


Seal of the Dark Pharaoh

by PrayerDontHurt



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Character death in later chapters, OC in the form of Mana's Host, Yami Marik is his own warning, mild swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-08
Updated: 2016-08-22
Packaged: 2018-05-12 15:26:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 59,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5670850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrayerDontHurt/pseuds/PrayerDontHurt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Death Eaters attack those close to the millennium items across the globe with various levels of success, and force the bearers and reincarnations to go on the run while trying to figure out what is going on and dodge attempts of wizarding fractions trying to bring them under their wing.</p><p>Between the threat of The Dark Lord and his followers, nasty teachers and noisy dorm mates, the threat of the group tearing itself apart from memories of the past is all they need in the mix.</p><p>(I apologise for my spelling mistakes I'm Dyslexic AF and currently fixing them.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Two Cats

In Japan!

**Domino Park**

It was currently Saturday afternoon after school. Yugi, Joey, Anzu, Honda, Serenity, Ryou, and Duke, along with the two ancient spirits tagging along were currently in the nearby park. After BattleCity, Serenity wanted to stay close to her brother. Her mother gradually allowed her to stay with Joey and his father. This seemed to have sobered him up somewhat and lessened his drinking to at least appear decent in front of his daughter. She wore the pink uniform and was a year below theirs. Yami still had a laugh when he remembered the dumbfounded faces of Honda and Duke when she first came to school.

Yami honestly didn't know why Bakura was still hanging around. Sure, his unfortunate host was friends with Yugi and on a certain level respected the British boy. After all, Ryou saved Yugi while in a shadow game against Bakura by overshadowing Bakura's other monster on the field. They didn't know Ryou; Yami didn't consider him apart of the closed group he protected but Ryou made the decision to save them, people he barely knew or spoke to and had nothing to gain from it. Yami only thought it fair to save his soul from the Shadow Realm; he was a good person and shouldn't suffer because of the spirit.

But the wretched spirit just kept coming back. Most of the time, Ryou was in charge, Yami could tell even if his friends couldn't, just the subtle changes, in posture, tone, the certain look in his eye and questions. He took a little pride that Bakura hadn't figured out he knew, but what if Bakura  _did_  know Yami knew?

 _/That's heading into confusing territory partner. /_ Yugi giggled.

\ _Pfft._ \ Yami answered, rolling his non-existent eyes. \ _Cat and mouse is getting boring. Especially when we are both cast as cats._ \

Bakura hadn't done anything in weeks; Yami was getting agitated waiting for him to make a move. He's only shown himself a hand full of times after BattleCity.

The group sat under one of the large trees in the park. Honda and Duke were trying to outdo each other to get Serenity to notice them by setting up a picnic blanket. Joey was ignoring their quiet obvious actions while Anzu and Serenity were chatting about school and how Serenity was holding up to Japanese culture, having lived in New York most of her life. It was humorous enough that Serenity lacked an accent and she lived in America, when Joey hadn't lived there for nine years and had one thicker them most natives.

That left Yugi and Ryou talking about a new board game. Yami lost interest, sitting upside down in the tree, hanging by his legs. Good thing he was a spirit, if he was solid and fallen he would he suffering from bruising. He listened to everyone talking, but at the same time, not. He felt the most relaxed when it was like this.

"Hey, are they having a Yo-yo battle?" Anzu asked, snapping Yami out of his thoughts to see her pointing to a group of middle schoolers. They, of course, had Yo-yos. Yami noted they were amateurs, trying tricks like 'let the dog out', 'round the world' and the more complicated. 'swing set'.

 _/'Walk the dog' Yami, Joey got the name wrong./_ Yugi corrected. It went over Yami's head since he liked that name better.

"Hey Joey, you should join in!" Honda suggested. "I remember you doing some tricks in school a few years ago."

"Yo-yo? How retro!" Duke said, then took a closer look at the kids. "Hey, that looks like it's one of my designs, from like, years ago."

"Wait, are you telling me those things were made by you?" Joey asked. Duke had grounded himself to game design in his department in Industrial Illusions. His partnership with Pegasus had the older man take care of most things and gave Duke time 'to be a kid', as Duke's father had denied him that.

"Yeah so? Heavy yo-yo, stronger string, bloody cheap too, but nothing we didn't get back from other more popular toys." Duke shrugged his shoulders. That would explain why a Yo-yo could bust a hole in a roof. Granted a rusty roof but it wasn't like it was crumbing away.

Yami noticed Joey's grit teeth and thought back to his old gang, Joey averted his attention to a flock of birds passing them over. Any reminder of how they nearly hung Yugi would set him off, the gang got away practically scot-free with what they did.

 _[Broken bones, deep cuts, and glass stuck in skin really scot-free?]_  Yugi asked, raising an eyebrow. To a passerby, it would have been odd he was making faces. The circle of friends knew by now he was just talking to his other half.

_[If Joey didn't take care of the leader, I would have sent him to a mortuary instead of the hospital.]_

"… WHAT?" Ryou asked loudly, wide-eyed. From the looks he got from his friends, his pale face went scarlet. "Uh, mind link. Open talking."

 _[Kuso, he heard that.]_  Yami swore. If Ryou heard it then-

 _[I did too!]_  Bakura said, finally rearing his head. He sat in the tree on a branch opposite Yami, who grinned slightly. Yami pulled himself up to a sitting position. He had no doubt in his mind Bakura would push him out of the tree the moment he took his eyes of him. Not that it would hurt, other than it being rather inconvenient.  _[What's this about his high ass being violent? And he gives me trouble for it.]_

[ _Maybe if you stopped trying to curse teachers, he wouldn't yell at you as much._ ] Ryou pointed out.

[ _You would think by now they would at least tell the new teachers not to threaten our hair.]_  The thief huffed.

 _[Does this have to do with all those burn cases that happened two years ago?]_ Ryou asked.

 _[…Maybe.]_  Yami said, crossing his arms and sitting more comfortably in the tree.

"Not that time." Yugi clarified to Ryou, who unsurprisingly looked more bewildered.

 _[Burn cases? Sounds like the Pharaoh's been a naughty boy.]_  Bakura taunted, Yami glared.

 _[That escape convict set himself on fire. It was his own fault he was a smoker.]_  Normally, he wouldn't reveal this. But he wanted to counter attack Bakura. The thief didn't think he was actually capable of actually hurting him. How wrong he was.

 _[As well as a drinker!]_  Yugi added. Yami raised an eyebrow before snickering.

 _[…Don't you usually dislike it when Yami threatens to kill people?]_  Ryou asked.

 _[He hit Anzu, he can burn in hell! And I'm pretty sure he is now.]_  Bakura and Ryou were a little unnerved at how cheerful the supposedly nice Yugi said that.

 _\Note to never hurt Anzu._ \ Bakura decided, jumping from the tree. His landing was silent, as expected. If the spirits made noise they would have been found out long ago with their arguments in class time.

/ _Good. I don't want to be set on fire._ / Ryou said rolling his eyes. He was pretty sure Yami  _really_  wouldn't set him on fire, but 'broken bones, deep cuts, and glass embedded into skin' sounded painful.

"Are you two having a private conversation again?" Serenity asked them. They both looked towards the younger girl a little bewildered.

"Hey, we want in on those conversations, to get a heads up if the Crazy Bakura is going to stab us." Joey said. He was passing canned drinks out.

"Sorry guys." Yugi said, giving them a weak grin. Ryou looked a little miffed at being called crazy, even if he knew it was directed to his other half. It was his name too after all.

Ryou stood up, already finished his drink. "I'd better be getting home. I'm waiting for a package from my dad."

"Oh, do you want someone to come with you?" Yugi asked. "You told us the neighbouring kids were giving you a hard time."

"I live near your area, I can go." Anzu offered, smiling politely. Ryou blushed at the attention; he didn't think they would remember him telling them about the neighbourhood kids throwing trash at him. It took all his strength to keep Bakura from sticking them into chew toys and giving them to the stray dogs.

"It's alright! Thanks for the offer." He went to pick his bag up from the base of the tree. "Oh, Pharaoh…" It still sounded like Ryou, but calling him Pharaoh tipped him of that Bakura was in charge. He and Yugi switched and he went on instant alert, standing up with a hand twitching to his deck. Bakura would try anything here, right? Too many people! It wasn't a logical strategy.

Yami did not expect him to throw a stick at him. He caught it out of the air. Bakura also had a stick, both were thick and sturdy and about a metre long. Before he could question it, he had to block a swing from Bakura. He quickly moved away from his friends, who were now standing up to figure out what was going on.

"Bakura! What are you doing?" Yami demanded, his voice held the authority of the king he was. Usually, it annoyed the thief when Yami used that tone, but at the moment didn't seem to care.

"Testing a theory!" He said with a wide grin and an insane look in his eyes. Before Yami could blink Bakura attacked again with a stabbing motion. Yami blocked again with a loud  _WHACK_ , throwing Bakura's stick the other way.

/ _Be careful Yami, don't hurt Ryou!_ / Yugi warned through their link.

\ _Yes Aibou, I'll try not to hurt him.\_  Yami sighed. Every time he got control, a warning. He knew Yugi trusted him, and he knew himself that he needed to be told not to become too violent. It was more of a routine than anything else.  _\But Bakura is free game!\_

Before he could do anything else, Yami threw the stick in the air, pulling the school jacket off in one flourish move. He remembered the last time he didn't take the jacket off. Yugi had to replace it because of burn holes. Bakura took advantage of the opening and made another stab. On reaction he kicked Bakura in the wrist, he was forced to let go of his stick but grabbed Yami's before he could catch it again.

Defenceless, Bakura made a swing at his opponents shoulder, Yami leaned back to avoid it, falling on his hands-

**_"ON YOUR BACK YOU'RE DEFENSELESS AND DEAD!"_ **

A voice caught him off guard, in Ancient Egyptian no less. Followed by an extreme headache that made his vision white, he had to squint Bakura was standing over him, about to claim victory with a smug smile. Yami swung his legs over his head and came into a crouch; he grabbed Bakura's discarded stick and launched himself at him, going on offense.

" **Finally!** " Bakura said, he took a moment to snap his stick on his knew into uneven halves, flipping them so that the long ends were facing down.

 _/When did you learn to backflip?/_  Yugi found the time to yell and come out in spirit form.

 _\Television?\_  Yami answered. He noted that Ryou hadn't popped up; Yami guessed that Ryou didn't know the thief would attack them, or actually approve of it.

 _[Hey! No interference!]_  Bakura took a swing at the intangible Yugi. He yelped and retreated into the puzzle.

" **Hey! Leave Yugi out of this!** " Yami growled in Egyptian and was able to land a swing on the thief's side. Bakura winched slightly but recovered quickly enough. They were both on offense now. Bakura used strength and waited for openings; Yami used speed and slightly weaker blows, intending to build up on the damage. They were both light on their feet, like a dance.

Yami grabbed Bakura's right arm with his own right and twisted it, making him drop the stick, Yami turned and elbowed the thief in the face and hooked his foot around the thief's ankle, making him fall to the ground.

The fight ended with the former king keeping a foot on Bakura's stomach to make sure he stayed down. Bakura put his hands up and dropped the other stick. Yami didn't think he had hit him in the jaw too hard, but he could see a drip of blood on the corner of him mouth.

"I win." Yami said. He expected Bakura to growl like a feral dog, but instead he smirked.

"Woohoo! Rematch!" The group of kids playing with the Yo-yo's and a lot of park goers had formed a loose circle around the two. They both failed to notice the attention they had gathered. They were cheering or filming.

[ _Great, the school's going to kill us._ ] Yugi moaned, coming out again.

[ _Why?_ ] Yami asked, genuinely worried, he wasn't intended to make Yugi pay for his actions. Damn it Bakura! He baited him into fighting. It was an odd plan to get them into trouble, though. It might be the beginning steps of an evil plot.

[ _Drawing attention to the school bull crap, giving it a bad name._ ] Bakura supplied. Yami glared at him. [ _I'm pretty sure the only reason they allow you to duel on grounds is because it's good publicity that the top duelists in the world all go to the same school._ ]

 **[I expect an explanation for this, count is as my reward for wining.]** Yami told him. He was testing the language, it sounded a little off to him but he got it right enough for Bakura to understand him. It irked him slightly he couldn't talk to anyone but the thief in his native language.

 **[I was going to anyway.]**  Bakura shrugged then retreated into the ring, leaving a confused Ryou nursing an injured cheek.

"Sorry about him." Ryou said, embarrassment laced his voice. Knowing that the danger had passed, Yami dropped the stick and offered Bakura a hand up. He looked at it oddly for a second before accepting it.

They stood and the crowd cheered. Their friends pushed to the front of the crowds.

[ _Take a bow, make it look intentional._ ] Yugi suggested. They both bowed. Yami felt where Bakura got a lucky shot to his side.

[ _How's your face, Ryou?_ ] Yami asked him.

[Hurting.  _What the hell did my other half do?_ ] Ryou asked, Yami did more damage than Bakura did. In his opinion, Yami kicked his ass. He was sure they were both going to be bruised the next day.

[ _Tell you later._ ] Yugi said.

"All right people, break it up! This fund raising event is over!" Joey said loudly. "Go back to your picnics!"

"What are you fund raising for?" Someone asked. Joey tried to think of something.

"Orphanages! Go donate to the closest one!" Anzu blurted, waving her hands at the people. Eventually, they went away.

"You do realize that fight is going on YouTube, right?" Duke said. Yugi groaned.

"Talk, Bakura." Yami said. Ryou sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them they were a dark grey, his hair visibly becoming more ragged.

"You still have your implicit memory." Bakura stated.

"What?" Yami asked flatly. Was he trying to make fun of him? Bakura hinted he knew about his past on occasion, not like Yami was going to ask him about it, like absolute hell he was getting any help from  _him._

"Oh…" Duke said in the background, apparently he knew what 'Implicit Memory' was.

"Explain." Yami said, crossing his arms. Bakura again smirked.

"Implicit memory is when you've done something over and over again that you never forget it, like automatically signing your name or shuffling your deck without a second thought." He shrugged. "You were trained in sword fighting since you were a little princeling, I'm sure by the way you fought back there it's been drilled directly into your brain."

Yami briefly remembered the flash of memory. He still had a headache. The first time  _ever_  he remembered something it hurt like a knife slicing into his chest-

Why did he know what that felt like anyway?

"That would explain the horse riding in America." Duke said, drawing attention to himself. "I did think it was odd since I'm pretty sure you've never even seen a real horse before, Yugi."

"Well, Yami here’s been riding since he could bloody walk, along with other lessons from the best teachers of the time." Bakura said. He lifted himself up and patted himself down of dirt.

"Please, you were a tomb robber. How much would you know about my everyday life?" Yami asked. A strange look crossed the Thief's face. He couldn't think of what it was, the closest would have been guilt, but why would he feel guilty?

"More than you do." Bakura retorted. Yami took the bait and glared harder with gritted teeth.

/ _Easy, other me._ / Yugi said. Yami sighed and gave control back to Yugi. Bakura took it as a sign that the conversation was over and let Ryou back. He nearly collapsed. Yugi quickly rushed to help him stay up.

"Ouch." Ryou managed to say, holding his wrist. Yami felt slightly guilty that Ryou had to deal with the Thief using his body as a meat puppet.

"That's it; you're getting an escort home." Yugi said.

"I think it's time for me to go to a meeting anyway. I'll take you home, Ryou." Duke said, checking his wrist watch for the time.

"It's okay-" Ryou tried to decline,  _again._  He was still trying to push his friends away, meaning he was still scared that Bakura would turn around and start biting people's heads off.

[ _I'm pretty sure you're limping._ ] Yami added.

[ _Can you? Please_?] Yugi asked, blinking Bambi eyes at Ryou. Yami could see Ryou visible cave.  _/Ha! Still irresistible!/_

 _\If only it would work on Bakura…\_ Yami muttered.

They didn't notice the man in the black robe watching them for a far. He used binoculars to get a close-up of the group of high schoolers. Two had a stick fight, and then they left with a third member. That would have been the perfect time to grab them if they didn't get into a muggle transportation contraption.

He also realized he was going to need back up. He could feel a surge of energy while the albino and the porcupine were fighting. He only needed the children with the pendant and ring.

So he set to follow them, wait for them to be alone and strike.


	2. Three Fake Items

**In Australia!**

**Sydney, Museum of Ancient and Modern History**

Malik, Ishizu, Odion and all of the artefacts about the Nameless Pharaoh were currently in the land down under. The worldwide tour was getting quite old when a pattern emerged. Students came to study it, then the private collectors came to try and buy it, since technically it belonged to the Ishtar family which was on loan to go on tour before going back to Egypt.

He honestly didn't trust anyone with the artefacts outside of the people that new about them. Yugi had given the items back to the Ishtar’s, He had given them the Ring, but it somehow managed to run away on them, find its way across an ocean and to Japan again. Bakura didn't  _give up_. He missed him a little.

Ishizu must have shared his thoughts on trusting museum owners, so they had a fake Millennium Rod and Millennium Necklace on display while the hieroglyphics were real. Since the Pharaoh was now walking the earth, there was no reason to keep it secret anymore. Besides, it was so over the top that most archaeologists and historians put it down as exaggeration like most of the New Kingdom evidence.

Malik was currently bored out of his mind. The place was huge and usually empty on Sunday, his home school lessons were over, Ishizu was in a meeting ('No, we are NOT selling them.'), and Odion was giving a lecture. He was getting plenty of exercise, walking the entire perimeter of the museum and found himself  _again_  in the Egyptian section.

He noticed someone standing in front of the Tablet of the Nameless Pharaoh and Priest Seth fighting. He had to shoo some people in black robes away with the real millennium rod, at first, he thought they were Rare Hunters and commanded them to disband and leave, but he didn't recognize any of them.

This worried him greatly. Were they reforming without him? He should have seen it coming anyway. Some of the Rare Hunters had suggested expanding from cards and Ancient Egyptian things. He shot it down at the time. He needed all the attention, time, and resources finding what he needed. There had been some ambitious members. He now had no doubt they ignored him, found more members and are going with their plans.

But the person didn't look like a rare hunter, quite the opposite. She was maybe his age, tanned skin, brown hair with a red scarf acting as a bandana and a white long sleeve and skirt, along with yellow sandals and gold jewellery. She was squinting at the tablet and muttering under her breath.

"Yo." He said, making her jump. "You've been standing here for a few hours." It wasn't far from the truth; he remembered seeing her come in that morning and saw her go into the ancient department. "I'm okay with it, but don't touch the glass, the janitors get annoyed when they have to be called in every few hours."

She took a step back while blushing. He saw her eyes dart across him and land on the VIP pass he had been forced to wear so the security didn't kick him out. She could easily deduct he might have been special; along with the accent she couldn't place she figured he had a connection to the exhibit.

"Sorry." She sputtered. "I'm just…interested in this, I'm trying to mentally translate it."

"You study Ancient Egypt?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. He heard that ancient history was taught in high schools, but didn’t know how far in depth it was.  _He_  had a reason.

"Sure, but the hieroglyphics are a little different than the ones I've seen." She answered. "Or I'm just rusty."

"No, this dialect is only from a thirty-year time span. This exhibit has pretty much all the artefacts found at the time. Other than the 'Tomb of Anubis', that's in storage."  _In a desert vault, welded shut and cemented over._ He mentally added.

She nodded with a frown. "Do you have any idea what it says?"

"Just a little." He said. "The Pharaoh, whose name had been eradicated from every source we have, is battling his high priest who was being controlled by an evil force." He pointed to the end, "Since the bottom is totally eroded-"  _Read: chipped out by the Ishtar family_  "We have no idea who won that fight, but the High Priest is still been recorded as his High Priest in sources dated after this, so it's a safe bet to say the Pharaoh won."

"Oh." She said. She looked slightly disappointed. Malik frowned slightly in thought. Has he seen her before? She looked familiar…

Wait… Why wasn't she asking more about it? Like, why was the Pharaoh's name erased? What was the evil force? She wasn't asking about the monsters being summoned. He saw she was lost in thought, looking over the Pharaoh and at his monster.

"Thanks for the info, mate, I should go now." She turned, gave him a small wave and began to walk away. She was talking under her breath again. But he caught ' _Dark Magician', 'Mahad', 'Prince'_  and the world the cinched his paranoia was ' _items._ '

"Wait!" He blurted, he was not letting her get away  _now_ , he had a hunch she knew more about the tablet then she let on, if she did, she had access to information that only his family had. They didn't mention the items, the Rod and Necklace were a part of a smaller exhibit that had them labelled 'Wand' and 'Crown', not a mention of the Millennium Items.

She turned around with a look of confusion.  _"Crap! What do I say now?"_  He thought, he scratched the back of his head. "I'm er… really,  _really_  bored and don't know the area, my sister won't let me go anywhere unless I'm supervised and I don't want a tight ass tour guide…"

She paused for a moment, as if processing what he said.

"Are you asking me on a date?" She eventually asked.

 _"Oh shit, I think I did."_  He thought to himself. "Eh… Yes?"

Her face broke into a giant grin, she outstretched a hand to shake. "I'm M- Darcy, sorry. Who are you?"

Fake name? Well, two can play it that game. "I'm Namu, the Ishtar's cousin; I basically tag along to get out of school."

"Nice." She said. "D- I know a coffee shop not too far from here."

Another slip-up. He smiled and pretended not to notice. "Sounds good."

**Half hour later**

After telling Odion he was going out ("With a girl?" He asked, sounding surprised. "YES!" Malik yelled before running out of the lecture hall) He let her drag him outside. He hadn't gone past the court yard before, only direct trips to their hotel room and the museum.

"So you're actually from Egypt?" She asked. They were exiting the shop with foamy cups of coffee.

"Born there, spent ten years there, and then hopped on the first plane to see the world." He said, adding sugar to the coffee. It was extremely bitter and hot, it even said 'caution, hot!' on the side.

"What was it like growing up there?" She asked, and he paused to think about it. Living in a hole for half his childhood, with no contact with anyone other than family, adopted family and people apart of the Tomb Keepers and he only knew most about the outside world from when the tomb keepers complained about the changing world.

"Different than most childhoods." He answered truthfully.

"Oh… Need to talk about it?" She asked, sensing the discomfort in his voice.

"Nah, already have it behind me." He said, trying to get the subject of him and onto her. "So, what's it like being Australian? 'Shrimp on the Barbie', 'Pet Kangaroos'?" He tried the accent but failed miserably, Darcy giggled at his attempt.

"We call them 'Prawns', though." She answered. "No pet kangaroos in Sydney, I think the people outback do though." She smiled at his face. "Sydney is pretty much the icon of Australia, the bridge, the opera house and the reef, other than the rock in the centre, people usually forget about the other natural landmarks like the devils marbles and rainbow snake egg."

"You've got the local history down, what got you into Ancient Egypt?" He asked. He hadn't heard of the last to before now.

She paused again. She pauses a lot, Malik noted.  _Just like two people he knew._ He realized. It clicked together.  _She's possessed!_  He took a better look at her to try and see anything that could be the spirit vessel. Like Bakura, she had whatever was possessing her hidden from sight. He reached behind his back to touch the real Millennium Rod to try and sense it. Really, the safest place it could be was with him.

"Namu?  _Namu!_ " She whispered. Snapping him out of his thoughts. She looked worried. "I think we're being followed." She said. "Behind me, around the corner, there's a man in a black trench coat, he's been following us since the coffee shop and down the alley behind you is another one, I think they have guns!"

He spotted the one behind Darcy, dressed in black with one hand inside his  _robe_ , not trench-coat, it looked like he had one hand on a gun.

 **"Shit, Rare Hunters."** He swore in his native tongue. He grabbed her by the right arm and felt something hard under her long sleeve, he felt a wave of magic wash over him.  _Found it, but this is extremely bad timing._

**In Ireland or Scotland! (Most probably)**

**Hogwarts's castle, headmaster's office**

Albus Dumbledore was currently looking over several student reports from two different countries, deep in thought.

He was following a trail that started four years ago. Starting with a boy called 'Ryou Bakura'. Four muggle boys sent to the hospital as if kissed by Dementors. Only two years ago did they wake up. This convinced him that it wasn't a Dementor attack at all. Souls were not returned after they were eaten by Dementors, that was a hard proven fact of the wizard world.

The boy wasn't checked for magic, it was honestly thought to be a Dementor attack at the time. The boy was already in Japan by the time he had heard about it, so he couldn't check himself, His mother and twin sister were killed around the time the soul stealing started to happen. He figured the emotional damaged awoken any magical blood he had, it was extremely rare to happen, but it had in the past. He had no jurisdiction in Japan, so he had to drop it and hope they picked him up.

Then a few more cases of Dementor attacks emerged. Not for a second did he think it was a coincidence. A high school teacher of Ryou Bakura went to slipped into a coma for three days, not unlike the four Muggle boys, and an old man a few months later.

That was went he found  _another_  boy with odd things happening to him, with much more violent  _accidents_  happening. Yugi Mutou, the same grade and class as Ryou Bakura. An escaped convict set on fire with Yugi being among the hostages of a fast food restaurant, a student being sent to hospital with harmful chemical inhalation, a teacher needing to take an extensive leave after having a nervous breakdown, a teacher that taught Yugi Mutou.

He created a timeline, Ryou has had magic long before Yugi did, but by the time Ryou came to his school, domino high school, he had magic for roughly six months. So, Ryou didn't awaken magic in Yugi. But there had to be a connection, their magic was similar he was sure of it. The old man that had been comatose had been Yugi Mutou's grandfather, it only lasted three days also. There was the second connection between the two boys, other than going to the same school.

Slowly he found connections between the two before they had met. Yugi's grandfather was an archaeologist in his youth, specialized in ancient Egyptian artefacts. Ryou's father was also an archaeologist and frequently was overseas. He found evidence that one of his trips home coincided with the first signs of Ryou having magic.

Then, Yugi Mutou became 'the king of games'. He soon became famous after winning a tournament hosted by Maximillion Pegasus, it coincided with the time his grandfather became comatose. Dumbledore found out that Pegasus had also gone to Egypt a few years pervious after his wife had died, came back and started to create 'Duel Monsters', a now extremely popular children's card game. He found several reports of odd things happening, an employee falling out of a 40 story building, one getting struck by lightning, mysterious suicides…

Mr. Pegasus, Hufflepuff, not an above average student or below, but Dumbledore remembered all the students that had come and gone in his school. He remembered he married her as soon as he graduated Hogwarts, and how he made daily prophet headlines when he was demanding magic treatment for his muggle wife. He was bitter about it, really bitter. He turned his back on the wizarding world and never came back.

So, Ryou, Yugi and Pegasus were connected by a trip to Egypt, it had to be something, like an artefact that awoken the younger children's powers, something the archaeologists' gave them.

A picture of Yugi somewhat confirmed his theory. He was wearing a pendent around his neck of an upside-down pyramid on a large chunky chain. An Egyptian eye was on it. He actually didn't like looking at it directly, it felt like it was staring back at him. He needed more information, do he contacted the only person he knew with the information he needed and didn't think he was senile.

"Bill Weasley." He said, throwing a hand full of Floo powder into the fireplace, the yellow flames turned green. It took a few moments before the face of the oldest Weasley sibling popped through the ash.

"Dumbledore?" He asked with a hint of confusion.

"Yes, I need information, William." No one but his mother called him William and usually only when she was mad at him. Dumbledore could get away with pretty much everything.

"What can I help you with?"

"Your area of expertise. Egypt. Has there been any tombs found in the last fifty years?" Fifty years because that was Solomon Mutou's peak in archaeology.

"Quite a few, you're going to have to be more specific." Bill said.

"That weren't made public."

"Huh… about forty years ago there was a tomb found, completely empty except for a single sarcophagus, and it didn't have anything in it. It looked like nothing was ever there. There is evidence that there was a small box on a slab, but it's long gone." Bill scratched his head. "Actually, I'm pretty sure there is a new Egyptian exhibit touring the world. 'The Nameless Pharaoh and the Thirty Year Gap', never before seen stone tablets and artefacts, both muggle and wizard alike, it's like they just appeared out of the sand. I've actually met the Ishtar’s, the owners of the artefacts, they say they've been in the family for generations. They're muggles by the way."

"Do you know where they are now?" Dumbledore asked, not believing how lucky he was to find a lead if he could find a location…

"Hmm… It's August… So Australia." Bill thought for a moment before answering. "Yep, pretty sure it's Australia."

There had been Death Eater sighting in Australia in the last week, sure, muggle media had them pegged as a criminal gang called the 'Rare Hunters'. The Australian Magical Council were investigating it but were staying out of British ministries business. They would not confirm it as Death Eaters or Rare Hunters. 

"I need you to meet me in Australia,  _now_." He said urgently.

"What? Now? Where?" Bill sputtered.

"The museum." He said gravely. "I fear the Ishtar's are in danger."

**Back in Australia!**

**Where we left off**

They were walking quickly, Malik was leading her by her hand with their coffees discarded. Trying to get away from the stalkers, but they continued to follow them.

"We have to stay with the crowds, they won't make a move until we're alone," Darcy suggested, she discretely kept looking around.

"I was planning that." He had his phone in the other hand, poking the buttons and making a call. "I was finding a signal for my phone."

The call went through but to voice mail. He cursed, he forgot she was in a meeting.

" **Sister, Call back when you can. Confirmed Rare Hunter sightings. Not my fault I swear _and_  I've found another spirit.**" He said in Ancient Egyptian, only his family and the spirits could actually speak it, better than any code. The language had been passed down through the generations of tomb keepers, so it never died out like it did above ground.

Darcy was texting furiously on her phone. He turned the panic button Ishizu put on for him, at first, it had been as a joke, but it was coming in handy now since it was a tracker.

"Taxi!" Malik yelled, putting an arm out to the road. The taxies weren't brightly coloured, they were white and he could only spot the signs on top of the roofs.

"What are you doing? I don't have money for one." She hissed at him, looking behind them to see if the not-rare-hunters had lost them yet. The answer was no.

"I do!" He said, he swiped Ishizu's credit card a few days ago, she hadn't noticed yet. One slowed down with a rolled down window.

"Go home, immigrants." He said, spitting at his feet. Malik was shocked at it, firstly, the spitting, maybe he was too used to being in Japan were if you were caught doing that you were fined on the spot. He was already driving off before Malik could react.

Without saying a word the back window cracked, then shattered. The taxi braked hard in the middle of the road, making several cars' swerve and beep their horns at him.

"Run!" She hollered, grabbing his arm and pulled to make him follow her down a back ally. He saw out of the corner of the eye that the Rare Hunter wannabes were following them.

"What happened to staying in the crowds?" He asked, keeping pace with her. They turned a few streets.

"Against someone that _will_ hurt us or someone that _might_ hurt us I'm going with run anyway!"

"Oh, they _will_ hurt us, they have guns, remember? Or were you too busy yelling?"

The only stopped when they came to an empty alley intersection. They promptly collapsed out of breath. They couldn't see them, and Malik couldn't feel anyone else's presents for a hundred feet, they must have been deep in the alleyways.

"Does that happen often?" He asked through laboured breath, keeping himself up by supporting his arms on his legs.

"Getting stalked or the Taxi driver?" She clarified, she was holding her chest as if it would slow down her heart.

"Taxi driver."

"I admit I got angry but to be fair, spitting is dirty." She said, sliding down one of the walls to sit. "You're darker than white and you look rich, more than enough reason. I'm just surprised you haven't come across it earlier."

"I've had a sheltered childhood." He answered, nothing less than the truth. He grabbed the Millennium Rod and held in tightly behind his back. "And you know I meant the window.”

“I never touched that window.” She said, getting back up and stretched her arms up. “Besides, that was the least I could have done.”

“I know, magic tends not to leave marks.” There would be no more beating around the bush. Darcy pushed her hair up and tied it into a ponytail.  “Who the hell are you?"

"Darcy." She answered. He would have growled at her answer. "Didn't I tell you that?"

"No, you are not." He grabbed her arm; the sleeve had pulled down when she gave the taxi driver the finger and got caught in it, so it was in clear view. She had a gold band that covered her arm from the wrist to the elbow. The eye of illusion, the eye exclusive to the thirty-year gap in ancient Egypt started back at him. He could feel the magic coming off it through his fingers. "Your eyes were blue before, now they're brown, and your accent fluxed."

“No one ever notices the eyes.” She said. She yanked it back out of his grip and averted her eyes away, not that it did any good, he was 150 percent positive they had changed colour, just like when the Pharaohs went red and Bakura's when dark grey. “Or the vocal change for that matter.”

"What is  _that_?" He pointed to the wristlet. It seemed to stare at him and gave the same unsettling feeling items gave off. “That shouldn’t exist.”

"Nothing." She held it, as if the shield it from him.

"No it's not!" He snapped. "It's not an item, but it feels like one, who are you, what is that and why are they after us?" He pulled the Millennium Rod out from his belt and pointed at her so she could see it. It stayed remarkably well hidden under his vest. She inhaled sharply. So she  _did_  recognize it.

"You see this? This is the Millennium Rod, but you know that. I can force you to tell the truth with this, but it will be painful and harmful to your mental psych, I don't what to do that, but I'll have to if you know about the nameless pharaoh without my family telling you!" He threatened.

"You're not serious." She said after a moment, she took a defensive position with her hands balled into fists. She was sizing him up, like he had. She was shorter than him by only a few inches, but she had a tight iron grip from when she dragged him to run. He had no idea what the brace did, but surely it's power couldn't be on par with a Millennium item.

"You're not the same person I was talking to a moment ago." He said, narrowing his eyes. "Are you a spirit?"

"No." She answered, still eyeing the rod wearily.

"No lying!" He said through gritted teeth, he honestly didn't want to take control of her to look inside her mind. He could tell if someone was an easy target of not, the difference between strong or weak mental strength was a broken mind left after he was done. There was only one person that had resisted the rod's effects so hard, and that was Joey. He was sure there was more to the Yank under everything.

"I'm not a spirit." she maintained, but she caved. " _She_  is." She indicated to the wristlet, "Come on, he figured it out."

An incorporeal, identical girl appeared next to her, a disturbed expression on her face. She was a spirit, transparent and invisible to anyone not a welder of an item. The only difference he could spot was that Darcy put her hair up with a hairband that had been on her wrist, while the spirit kept hers out.

[I should have figured the Tomb Keepers would have the items.] The spirit sighed. [I'm correct aren't I? You are a descent of the family that were tasked with keeping the Items and the Pharaoh's tomb?]

"Yes." He answered, glaring. Sure, that's how she would put it. His family chained by tradition. He had broken that tradition, and he was proud of it, to be reminded of his family reminded him of his father, and how obsessed he was with upholding it. The girls shared a look, sensing they hit a nerve.

[We have questions too.] The spirit said. [So, what is a Rare Hunter?]

He wasn't surprised she knew ancient Egyptian, it only clarified she was from the time anyway, but she had understood his call to his sister, which irked him somewhat as it was  _supposed_  to be private.

"I'm not finished asking questions yet." Malik said, trying to keep control of the situation.

"Who says we have to?" Darcy asked, she held the arm with the wristlet in front of her, it reminded him of when a Duelist wanted to show they were serious. "I have control of this! I will use it if you try anything with that thing." To prove her point, she made the magic flair in the air around them, he shivered at how cold it got, it felt a little like shadow magic, only much more tamer. They were at a standstill, one slight move and it would end badly for both of them.

[Darcy! Please keep calm.] The spirit said in a kind tone. Darcy visibly calmed, she crossed her arms. From the looks of it, the Spirit was nicer, while the host was much more…extreme. He wondered how long they were together for.

The spirit turned to Malik. [Namu, we have to trust each other. We went to the museum for information, since the spell I cast all those years ago went slightly wrong and I forgot a few things, not a lot, but I've got these really large blanks concerned the P-Pharaoh.] She bit her lip in annoyance of her slip up. [But I'm pretty sure you asked me on a date to see how we know.]

"My name's not Namu, it's Malik." He saw the look of distrust on Darcy's face. "Hey, there is a very small chance the Spirit's name is Darcy too."

[You are right about that.] She said. [My name is M-]

"Bad timing, we got company!" Darcy yelled a split second before loud gunshot like CRACKS were heard. Four people appeared in black smoke, blocking all their exits. The stood up and gravitated to the centre of the circle back to back. They were pointing sticks at the two, hoods down, but freaky skull masks on. Defiantly not rare hunters. They could both feel the magic coming from these people.

"Slippery little buggers." One said. "Come with us peacefully or we will have to stun you, which will be annoying because our master wants to see you right away, Mr. Ishtar."

"Ha! So you're only lap dogs?" Darcy asked, "Figured as much."

"Shut up, muggle!" one growled. It didn't take a genius to realize it was a slur of some sort.

"My minions were better then you, and they didn't have magic." Malik joined in. "Really, stalking? Couldn't you have grabbed me at the museum?"

[Not the time for mouthing off!] The spirit yelled at them.

[Testing, one, two, three.] Malik said in his mind, he would be rolling his eyes if it wouldn't take them of the attackers.

[You're in my brain.] Darcy said, he saw her squint slightly. [I thought you said you wouldn't do that.]

[Mental link, handy isn't it?] He grinned outwardly. She may be able to use any magic in the wristlet but absolutely inexperienced when it came to the items.

"We don't need the girl." One said, having a distinctively younger voice.

"So kill her, she can be your initiation." The only female said.

[Did she just threaten you?] The spirit changed to a low, dangerous voice. Malik wasn't sure which was the nice one now.

[She did!] Darcy confirmed. He saw them swap places, the hair band snapped and her hair became wilder and the spirit stood up straighter in confidence. The younger one had pointed his wand at her.

"Be careful about who you pick on.  **TIME STOP!** " She threw her arms out, instantly all four of them stopped moving like someone hit the pause button on them. "It lasts as long as I'm in range, which is thirty metres." She panted slightly and wiped a bead of sweat from her brow.

"I think we should take their wands." Malik said, pulling the younger guy's wand out of his griped hand. No reaction. "Nice trick by the way."

"Thank you." She said, watching him take the wands and search their robes. Darcy popped out of the wristlet as the Spirit put the scarf over her forehead.

"But the looks of it, it's their only weapon." Malik said. "When we run I don't want them coming after us. If they intended on kill you with this, I'll hate to be in a fight with them."

[Are you checking their pockets?] Darcy asked.

"Hell no! I'm stealing from them, get it right." He pulled several items out, a few coin bags, feathers, and a few pieces of parchment, actually  _parchment_ , not paper. "Can I borrow your bag?"

She pulled her black bag of her shoulder and passed it to him. A notebook and a sketch bag were inside, along with a pencil case made of zippers.

"The sad thing is that this is not the first time we've had stolen goods in here." The spirit sighed.

[That was your fault!] Darcy said quickly.

"I know." The spirit said smugly. "If Darcy wasn't a serial gambler I wouldn't have come into her possession, so I can't say much against it."

[That's behind me.]

"Malik, are you ready? Holding the spell is wearing me down, so we better leave." The spirit turned to Malik, ignoring her host. Darcy poked her tongue out at her other half.

"Yeah." He said, pulling the bag strings tight. "These are just the little guys. They wanted to take me to their leader." He put the bag on, but the spirit shook her head.

"Give me that, you'll be mistaken for a girl." The spirit said, holding her hand out.

[Could have fooled me.] Darcy said dryly.

"Shut up!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm new to this so apparently I need to put something here to stop the first chapter note being put here instead.


	3. Seven Runaways

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case it wasn't clear (looking back, nope! it wasn't.) this is a merge of the manga and the anime. It's the Anime verse unless I mention something from the manga.
> 
> The language and talking system in now in full effect, since they are all spoken in this chapter and quite possibly the rest.  
> "English" Regular  
> "Japanese" italics  
> "Egyptian " Bold  
> [Broadcast link]  
> /Hikari to Yami/  
> \Yami to Hikari\

**In Japan!**

**Bakura's apartment. Fifteen minutes after we left off**

Yami knew something was wrong the moment Duke and his driver left the street. Yugi was still helping Ryou limp up the stairs of the apartment complex. Yami was on the lookout for children with empty soda cans.

 _\Aibou, something is wrong.\_  He warned. Yugi frowned a little.

 _/What is it?/_  He asked.

 _[Yo, High Ass!]_  Bakura's voice came from nowhere.  _[I think there's someone in the apartment!]_

 _[I figured Tomb Robber!]_ Yami and Yugi swapped. Bakura and Ryou did the same. They both went for their decks and thumbed through them for the cards they needed. They were the perfect channel for shadow magic, since it made it easier to summon monsters and made spells slightly less harmful to the soul.

" _Can I count on you having Mirror Force?"_  Bakura asked, showing him his card, Yami didn't see its inscription, only the picture, but it was basically a black card with zombies clawing its way out of the earth.  _"Cause I'm going on offense of the people who think they can steal from us!"_

" _Don't hurt them."_  Yami sighed, but the corner of his mouth twitched.  _"Too badly."_  He saw the thief swallow a grin.

 _/Other me!_ / Yugi protested. / _I expect that from Bakura!_ /

" _You wound me, Aibou. If it was our house I would be annoyed too."_  Yami protested and Bakura snickered, knowing of the scolding Yami was getting from his lighter half. _"Besides, it's not normal people, did you feel it?"_  he directed his last comment to the thief, they were both on opposite sides of the door, they could practically feel the people inside waiting for them to come inside.

" **It was the reason I came out."**  Bakura answered.

 _[What is it?]_  Ryou weakly asked, drained from his injuries. Yami figured Bakura was a little weak as well, even if he wasn't showing it.

" _Magic,"_  Bakura explained.  _"Remember in Britain? I kept getting chills, I'm getting the same chills now, and they only came off a few people."_

" _Ready?"_  Yami asked, having all the cards he predicted he needed. He hoped it worked like it had in America, the Oricalchos had been supplying the magic then, but he noticed when two or more items were together they were more powerful, feeding and supplying each other shadow magic in a continuous loop. Besides, they were much more powerful than they were before, they could supply the magic needed to make the cards work.

" _On three,"_  Bakura said. [ **One. Two. Three!** ] Bakura kicked the door down and quickly rolled into the apartment, several bursts of light appeared at the door like bullets, Yami dodged a red one and hid behind the wall outside and waited for an opening.

That's not normal. It wasn't shadow magic, Bakura had apparently encountered these type of people before. Yami wished he asked for more information about them. He heard a yell in alarm and for a second the spells ceased. Opening.

" _Mirror force!"_  Yami yelled, standing in the doorway and activating the card. A glass shield appeared in front of him, several colourful blasts collided with the mirror and went back to where they came from, the light was the only source to see where anything was, he heard them collide and heard screams. Yami went for the lights, but they were out.

Yami only had a few moments as his hidden enemies recovered. Bakura was nowhere to be seen, but he worked best with darkness. He acted quickly to make sure Bakura didn't sneak up and stab them, questioning people worked best when they were alive.

" _Swords of revealing light!"_  Yami yelled. The dark apartment brightened significantly as several swords appeared out of nowhere and circled the attackers. They could move, but their attacks were disabled. He noticed they had sticks he could safely call wands. They tried casting more spells in a language he vaguely remembered. Latin? Close...

Bakura stood up as if emerging from the shadows itself.

" _Who the hell are you people?_ " Bakura demanded, stepping close to one of the trapped intruders. They had been forced onto their knees by the swords. Bakura pulled the skull mask of the closet one, showing a pale black haired teen that would have been their age.

" **They look like Rare Hunters.** " Yami noted. Black clothes, but he was sure they couldn't use magic before.

" **No way, Malik disband them**." Bakura said. Yami raised an eyebrow. By the sounds of it, they were in contact.  **"And they don't recruit people this young, they were trying to stay discreet, having a cult of teenagers to control would be the least of their problems."**

" **They could have got back together without him.**   **Rare Hunters' are criminals, they're not going to stop because their leader said stop."**  Rare Hunting was a profitable, if illegal way of life. Some cards were nearly priceless to the right buyers, as ridiculous as it sounded along with how easy they were to steal, just pieces of cardboard. Yami actually thought that the cards were influencing people so they can be played, the holograms were the closest thing they can get to being summoned.

" **You think they went against his back? Malik would have used the rod on them to stay disbanded."**

 **"New people, same name. It half’s the job of gaining a reputation when you can claim someone else’s."**  Yami argued, the possibilities were almost endless, he didn't dwell on things, however, he thought on his feet and can think of the possibilities like predicting chess moves. Always five steps ahead. It's not a matter of knowing where you will move next, it's where your opponent will move as well. It was kind of like this situation. Kind of.

"Hey! Stop taking in that language!" The one that had his mask removed said, he was close to the entrance. Yami scoffed, he couldn't understand English, but it sounded like he was making demands, who was he to make demands? He and his friends were trapped. Yami could see that he regret bringing attention to himself as they both turned to him with their best unnerving glares.

"Huh, you  _are_  from Britain, what a strange coincidence," Bakura crouched down to eye level with the young one, he had switched to English. "Who are you and what are doing all the way here in Japan?"

"Don't say anything, brat!" One warned, looking to be the oldest.

"We'll force the truth out of you." He continued in English. "I'm very good with knives, they're like my friends, I have names for all sixty of them. Do you want to meet Gremlin? He's not actually a knife, he's a corkscrew. He hasn't removed anyone's knee caps in a few years. He misses the screaming."

The lighting made the shadows across his face warp his features and twisted his usual slasher smile to an ear to ear head splitting grin. Yami didn't know if he was doing it on purpose for the sole intention of scaring him- Actually, he was pretty sure that was the reason.

" **What did you say?** " Yami asked, seeing the young man pale. Bakura would have singled him out for being the youngest and usually, the greenest and soft one.

" **Just threatening to send his soul to hell if he didn't tell me why he and his friends are here.** "

Yami doubted it, firstly, his English rant was far too long for only one sentence, secondly, it was  _Bakura._  He also had the stupid 'I know something you don't know!' grin, Yami really hated that face, it was his default face.

 _[Liar!]_  Ryou shouted.  _/I thought I got rid of all of them!/_

 _\Not Gremlin, he's in the kitchen drawer. Now shh!\_  Bakura hushed his other half. Didn't he know when to keep a joke? Bakura then pointed to Yami without turning around. He rose an eyebrow but didn't say anything.

"And you see that guy? He's worst. He sets people on fire for fun, after he replaces their insides with alarm clocks and rats and sews them back up. He just asked if I failed to get information out of you because he hasn't killed anyone for a year and a half."

[I'm afraid to ask, Ryou.] Yugi said, as Ryou went green. The intruder had gone paler and his face stuck in a look of pure terror. His eyes darted between the two and his companions as if weighing the options.

"We're Death Eaters! We were sent to take you both to our master!" The young Death Eater blurted out.

"Why?" Bakura demanded.

"I don't know! I'm new, I barely know what I'm doing!" He looked close to crying.

"You idiot!" The one near the kitchen growled. "He will NOT be happy that you spilled your guts!"

"I'm sorry!" He blubbered to his companions, who refused to look at him.

"You will be when you’re dead! What he described is nothing to what he has install for betrayers!" The young one whimpered.

" **They are called 'Death Eaters', have a master that wants us both and he sounds temperamental, apparently, he kills his minions. What a waste.** " Bakura scoffed, informing Yami while getting up. " **I never killed mine for failing, it's too hard to find people, and killing them just scares of potential candidates!”**

" **I'll keep that in mind.**   **You do know that Swords of Revealing Light only last of six minutes in real time, right?"**  Yami asked. Bakura's expression changed.

" **I do now! When did you test it out?"**  He was suddenly moving fast around the apartment, running into the other room.

" **What are you doing?"**  Yami asked.

" _Packing! They know where we live!"_ Bakura was rushing around grabbing things, pulling up the carpet and revealing a secret compartment in the floor boards, he pulled out a shoe box and emptied its contents into a bag. _" We have no idea how many there are, they could be at your friends and grandpa's house!"_

Yugi gasped. This set Yami off. At first, it was just people using magic, if they threatened his friends and family they were going  _down._

" **Ask them their numbers!"** Yami demanded. He wished he could speak English so he could do it himself.

" **No time!"**  Bakura growled. " **We have to run, I suggest calling your friends to get to safety.** "

He didn't feel like telling the thief he was already planning that. While Bakura gathered clothes and things Ryou was yelling at him to grab other things like food. Yami grabbed Yugi's phone while keeping an eye on the three robbed death eaters, He could feel the swords wearing off, and there was nothing he could do about that. He barely had three minutes to make several calls. So he only made two.

The first one was to his grandpa.

" _Hello? Yugi?"_  He heard the old man asked. Yami and Yugi sighed in relief. They must have followed them from the park and not before then.

" _Grandpa, you have to pack and get out of the house!"_  He said in Japanese, he could see the British magic users glare at him. He glared back and saw the younger one flinch.

" _Why? What's happened?"_  He asked, confused. They hated putting him in danger, he was old, frail and not up to the excitement that they were getting up to.

" _There are people with magic coming after us. We don't know if they know where we live, but they followed us to Bakura's!"_

" _I'll call your friends!"_  Grandpa said, instantly getting the severity of the situation.

" _No! Pack!"_  Yugi took over. _"I'll call back in the next minute if I haven't arranged someone to pick you up. I love you grandpa, stay safe!"_

He disconnected and quickly went for speed dial 5. Yami took control again while Yugi started to worry.

" _Hello, this is Kaiba corp. Please state your name and-_ " the female voice was cut off by Yami's lack of time.

" _This is Yugi Mutou! Patch me to Kaiba now!"_  He immediately was patched to his office phone. He would have reflected on how just Yugi's name got him past protocol, it was like a master password. The ringing tone stretched out and he lost is patience.

" _Kaiba! Son of a bitch, answer!"_  He cursed under his breath.

" _I heard that Mutou."_  Kaiba's cynical voice came through. " _Your voice pattern was being verified, do have any idea how many people try and pull your name on my secretaries?_ "

" _No clue, to business there are people after me, my family and friends. I need you to hide them."_  Yami was not one to say 'please'. He was sure Kaiba knew he existed, even if he denied it. He called Yami a figment of Yugi's imagination, that was usually before he got his ass handed to him in a duel.

" _Why would I do that?"_  He asked dryly. Yami could hear him typing through the phone, he was barely paying attention! Yami was pretty sure he would yell at him but someone beat him to it.

" _What reason do you need? They broke into Bakura's house with weapons!"_ Yugi took over and shouted into the phone. Yami's eyes went wide. Yugi being mad wasn't a pretty sight, or nice to be on the receiving end off. " _If they are after us, they might be after you and your brother! You have the best security in this hemisphere and…_ " Yugi bit his lip and shut his eyes tight, he was shaking a little, his brief moment of anger faded. He couldn't stand the thought of his friends being harmed. " _Please, Kaiba, I need your help._ "

" _What do you need me to do?"_ his voice came through the speaker after a moment. Yugi breathe a sigh in relief, having Kaiba on their side was a big bonus.

" _Pick up my grandfather and hide him, pick up the others as well, quickly! We don't know how many there are, but they want us, they are working for a master of some sorts and dress like Rare Hunters._ " He swallowed. He knew his next words were going to really piss Kaiba off, but he had to know what was coming his way. " _They're using magic._ "

" _... There are some close by, aren't there?_ " He questioned.  _No comment on the magic?_  That was extremely odd, Yugi had no time to think about it. But Yami was mauling over it.

" **Pharaoh! Time to go!** " Bakura yelled, coming back into the room in a change of clothes. He had two bags with him, a rucksack and backpack, he threw one to Yugi. **" I emailed Malik, hopefully he checks it sometime this month.** "

Yami had forgotten about the Ishtar's, If someone was coming after them, why not the more public Tomb Keepers? Who had the artefacts on a worldwide tour, he had no idea what Ishizu was planning by doing that.

" _Was that Bakura?_ " Kaiba asked, he had stopped typing so he may have finally been paying attention.

" _I'm out of time!_ " Yugi said. " _I'll call you again when it's safe._ " He hung up before Kaiba could say anything.

" **Come on!"**  Bakura said, standing at the doorway. Yami took over and began to run after him. " **Rich boy knows what to do.** "

 **[Something's coming!]** Yami felt a shift in the air He heard several cracks like gun shots. He thought they had started to shoot at them but people were appearing in wisps of black smoke. The Swords of Revealing Light had a few seconds left, so this might be their backup.

" _Trap hole!"_ Bakura yelled, Yami heard them scream and felt the Shadows come to life, but didn't stop running to look back as they descended down the stairs.  _[Straight to the shadow realm, problems?]_  He had switched back to Japanese, so he wanted the Hikari's to hear what he did. Yami wondered why the Thief had asked him what he thought, since he would have done it anyway.

 _[No,]_  He replied, he could feel Yugi disapproval leak through the link.  _[Where do you plan on hiding?]_ At one point Bakura stopped and led him down a fire escape, dim lit and the exit outside only a few metres away.

 _[Couple of abandon buildings I know about and a few people owe me favours.]_  Bakura figured it was safe in the fire escape and opened his rucksack. _"There is strength in numbers Pharaoh, as much as it pains me to say it but we are strongest when we work together."_

" _I've noticed,"_  Yami said as Bakura threw him a black hoodie. Yami caught it and looked at it suspiciously. " _What's this for?_ "

" _To hide your star head, you stick out like a sore thumb._ " He answered, he was in the middle of changing his shirt to a black one. He had already changed into jeans at the apartment.

" _What about you? Your hair isn't that much worst then mine._ " Yami said while taking the school jacket off, pretty conspicuous. He was a little impressed with how prepared Bakura was, even if it verged on paranoia.

Bakura waved a basketball hat at him. " _I get to wear the hat this time._ " He huffed, putting it on backwards, his hair was obscured and pretty much covered.

 _[Seriously? You've having this argument now?]_  Ryou yelled. Yugi groaned.

 _[We are NEVER going back to Vegas ]_ Yugi said. Bakura snickered at the memory, Yami tried to push it away, he remembered bits and pieces of it, but mainly it was one giant blur. [ _EVER! It's better when you two don't get along!_ ]

When Bakura was done he opened a shadow realm portal and threw Yugi and Ryou's school bag inside. Yami adjusted the hood to cover his hair, his blond bangs being the only thing visible.

 **[Kuso! They found us again!]**  Yami warned, feeling more magic users before he saw them. They both ran out of the apartment building and ducked into an alley. They felt the people and their strange magic around them, but couldn't find them again. They walked out into the street and in the open, walking and trying not to draw attention to themselves.

 _[They must somehow be tracking shadow magic!]_  Bakura exclaimed.  _[We'll have to stay under the radar, even more so than I was planning.]_

 _[They might also be able to track us switching.]_ Yami suggested.  _[It's not that farfetched, we can sense them teleporting.]_

 _[I don't want to test that theory, you're both worn out.]_  Yugi said.  _[But we'll keep the link open, I don't want you cursing another car because you walked into the middle of the road again.]_

 _[That was once and it nearly ran us over!]_  Yami tried to justify.  _[I couldn't see it.]_

 _[I distinctly remember it being a bright lime green Toyota.]_ Ryou snickered.  _[it's like saying you couldn't see the charging pink elephant.]_

While they were mentally arguing they came head on with a gang of six people a little older than them. A gang patrolling their 'territory' with metal pipes, both the spirits had run ins with these type of gangs. It usually ended with people going to hospital and the fire department getting involved.

" _We don't have time for this_." Yami groaned. He tried to go around them but was stopped when one waved a pipe at him.

" _Yo girls, hand us your pretty necklaces or well beat you to death with these._ " The leader said. Very blunt and to the point. The Spirits were cursing to themselves when they realized they hadn't hidden the millennium items that hung freely around their necks, it should have been the first thing they thought of to hide. Yami didn't like bullies, he would have liked to set him on fire, but Yugi had banned that sort of behaviour.

" _Three each?"_  Bakura asked, he pulled a knife out of nowhere. He got a few sarcastic ' _Ohs_!' out of them, and ignored Bakura's silent threat.  _[We can do it without magic.]_

 _[Don't kill anyone!]_  Ryou said, seeing the thief take his knife out. Yami heard Yugi sigh. At least with duel monsters there was a slightly less chance of people getting sent to hospital. Yugi barely remembered when Yami first came out and how homicidal he was, he was only there for the aftermath of his actions. A criminal being set on fire stood out the most.

" ** _Only if you can handle three._** " Yami said as the gang closed their circle around them. Running would attract the attention of the Death Eaters if they could see a gang moving quickly after two figures. Yami was only slightly worn out from using magic. He wasn't going to ask Bakura for a status report. He was too proud for that.

**In Australia!**

**Ten minutes after we left off.**

"Damn it, Sister! Pick up!" Malik said, pounding his fist on his phone. His panic button was still on and she still didn't call back. They were in a more crowded place, mainly a park. They sat on a large fountain.

"Malik?  **Malik!"**  Her voice was a low whisper, his heart leaped as he created a mental image. She was hiding and  _they_  were close by. It had been a risk to answer her phone, he had put her in danger- **"Don't come back to the museum or the apartment and turn your phone off, they may be able to track it.** "

" **Sister-!"** He could barely believe how calm she was, did the necklace warn her? It was barely working for her as it was. What did she know?

" **Don't mess around, Malik. They killed the security guards and some board members with a green light! It is a magic I've never seen before.** " She paused and took a scarp breath. " **Hide Malik, hide! _Oh gods-_** " She hung up and Malik paled quiet impressively for someone that had such dark skin. The end tone beeped in his ear as he stood frozen on the spot. He screamed in anger and threw the phone across the park.

"That sounded bad." Darcy said in sympathy, he figured she didn't know the language but figured from his tone and actions something had gone wrong.

[You can't go back.] The Spirit warned, she stood behind him, with Darcy in front of him he felt like they had trapped him. [We have no idea what they are capable off, they can kill with those wands.]

"I have to! They're my sister and brother!" He cried out. He clutched the right side of his head as he felt a headache come on.  _No! Stay calm, have to stay calm. Or he'll break out again…_

"Then you're not going alone." Darcy said, putting a hand on his shoulder, he flinched violently at the touch and she let go, concern plastered her face, he regretted doing so as another look crossed her face. Fear. She recovered and continued to speak. "We will help; we're in this as deep as you are."

[We finally found someone with a connection to the past. We should stay together.] The spirit said, crossing her arms. She was staring at him oddly. He felt a surge of panic as he realized she might have been able to sense his darker half turning in his sleep, anything could just wake him up...

"Thank you." He said, his headache lessened and he could think straight again.  _Close call…_

"How do we go about this?" Darcy asked. "Stealth or full assault? Cause I can totally do stealth with  _white_ clothes,  _shiny_  jewellery, and corkboard sandals _."_  She seemed to direct the last part to the Spirit.

[We agreed that one weekend day I get to dress how I want.] She huffed, crossing her arms. Darcy was taking the sandals of and stuffed them into her bag. [Your uniform is too black.]

"The front way," Malik said, ignoring the girls bickering. It was like listening to Bakura and the Pharaoh bicker, yes, he meant they sounded like a pair of nagging high school girls.

"You have no idea what you're doing, do you?" Darcy asked with a blank face.

"Nope! Unless you have an idea." He said, she shrugged, indicated she didn't have a better plan. They made their way back to the museum in a light jog, they would need all of their strength if they had to fight.

"Do you think we can use these things?" Darcy asked, pulling a wand from the bag, black and slick with a silver handle styled as a snake. "It feels odd, like a staff, only more compact."

He realized it was the spirit again when he looked at her, there was a slight change in the pitch of her voice. At least with the Pharaoh you could tell by a glance who was in charge, along with his voice deepening and mannerisms. With Bakura you needed a slight more training, he could mimic Ryou well enough to even fool pretty much everyone. "You two switch a lot."

[Time share.] Darcy said. The spirit adjusted the scarf. [It's the least I can do, if she gets interested in something she can come out. It's the reason we were at the museum, interest. We wouldn't have guessed we would stubble upon something, or someone.]

"Who were you in the past?" Malik asked. That might be why she was familiar, she could have been in the scriptures somewhere.

"I am Mana. Court Magician of Pharaoh Seth." She recited. "There is a giant gap before that, though."

"So you were sixteen when you became court magician? You much be good."  _Magician..._

"Seventeen- _ish_ , the fact that I was one of the only people left alive after the Prince- _Pharaoh_ -" She corrected her self-shaking her head slightly. "-sealed the evil away, Pharaoh Seth had a broken court to deal with, I regret leaving him when I did. Nothing was going well." She had a far of look in her eye like she was back in Egypt.

"You were  _there_?" Malik asked. Anything about the battle between the Pharaoh and the 'Evil' had been destroyed. Bakura didn't remember anything when he got sealed into the Ring, the Pharaoh didn't remember anything, to have someone who was there and remembered what happen would be a breach of the Tomb Keeper's job. They were the only ones that knew, to have someone run around that knew was a problem.

"Yes, but I don't remember much." She reminded. "I remember I was dying... I sealed my soul into my Magician's brace." She waved the gold wristlet up. "But something went wrong, it's complicated to try and understand. Darcy is my reincarnation, but how can I be reincarnated if I sealed my soul? I wonder if this happened to the Pharaoh."

"Mana." Malik stopped running; she only noticed when she was a few metres in front. She slowed and turned back to him. He took a breath. She didn't know. It didn't sound like she knew. "He's back, he walks the earth once more."

"... You mean?" She said slowly. "Someone put the pendent back together and freed him?"

How many people actually knew the Puzzle was once a Pendent? Four, possibly five people that walked the earth. She had to be genuine. The evidence was overwhelming. Her face broke into an expression of relief and excitement.

 **"My Prince is alive! YES!"**  She squealed in delight.  **"YES!"**

[My god... He's actually alive...] Darcy said to herself. [How long?] She directed to Malik, as Mana was in capitated.

"Two years." He answered.

[We've been together for half that.]

"I have to go to him!" She was jumping up and down for joy. Darcy didn't stop her and smiled at her other half’s childish behaviour. "You know where he is, don't you?"

"Yes, after all this is sorted-" The happy news was suddenly destroyed as a large explosion echoed and shook the ground. Smoke started to fill the sky. People had screamed and started running. Malik's eyes went wide. They both sprinted towards the explosion, preying it wasn't where they knew it was. They could see it more than two blocks away. The court yard of the museum was covered in debris, the ground floor was on fire and quickly catching.

 **"NO!"**  He screamed.  **"BROTHER! SISTER**!" Did they get out? Were they safe? Were they dead? Did they get to them? They would never reveal the Tomb Keeper secrets.

"You can't go in there!" Darcy took over and held him back from running in, damn she had an iron grip.

 **"LET GO!"**  He shouted, trying to pull out of her grip, he grabbed the Rod and Darcy instantly let go and put her hands up. He would have felt horrified that he had scared her, but he was shocked at his own behaviour. Old habits die hard and wouldn't stay in their grave. He paused for enough time for her to talk to him.

"Malik! Look!" She pointed through the smoke, he could make out a black van, the Rare Hunter wannabes were piling into the back of it. Before the doors closed he could see the stone tablets lying on their sides and pushed inside. They had been cared for like fragile glass dolls for 3 millennium, you couldn't have something as in good condition as they were without being gentle.

A fire started in Malik's heart. He hated his duty as a Tomb Keeper, he had the duty, doesn't mean he liked it. But seeing generations of family sacrifice be treated like, well, giant pieces of rocks set up a headache. It took all his will power to fight it off.

"Those are the sacred tablets! HOW  _DARE_  THEY!" He yelled, yelling helped. He didn't feel so defenceless that way, the lower his defences, the higher chance his darker half would break out. "Mana, stop them! I'll be back in a moment-"

"What are you doing?" She asked trying to catch him by the arm again, but he was already running.

"You'll see!" He said, he felt his pockets, his duel deck was in one, his keys in the other, all he had to do was get to the hopefully intact back carpark and grab his Motorcycle-

 **\She's**   **pretty...\**  He heard a small, weak voice at the back of his head. He gasped in alarm and held his head, it chuckled back. **\Magician Mana... it has a nice ring to it.\**


	4. Seven Runaways

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case it wasn't clear (looking back, nope! it wasn't.) this is a merge of the manga and the anime. It's the Anime verse unless I mention something from the manga.
> 
> The language and talking system in now in full effect, since they are all spoken in this chapter and quite possibly the rest.  
> "English" Regular  
> "Japanese" italics  
> "Egyptian " Bold  
> [Broadcast link]  
> /Hikari to Yami/  
> \Yami to Hikari\

**Immediately after we left off.**

Darcy cursed as the blond boy ran off. What can they do? Did he expect them to, stand in front of the van and wave her arms? Chaos was all around her, the burning, exploding building and the dangerous magic users that can kill with their wands. She did not want to attract their attention unless she could properly defend herself.

\My freeze spell, Darcy.\ Mana reminded. \But we need to be close.\

"Like hell I'm getting close to them!" She said, she tried formulating a plan but couldn't think of one that didn't involve her getting into blast radius.

\We can use the wands.\ Mana suggested. Darcy dug into the bag to get a wand. She felt a spark as the tips of her fingers touched the wood, it felt odd. Nearly like what the Wristlet felt like, only… refined. Mana controlled raw, untameable power; it was like electricity being turned into a stun gun.

"Right, know any spells?" Darcy asked sarcastically. Out of the four, this one felt the strongest.

\Words are power, we just have to find the right words, right state of mind and enough magic. Let me.\ they switched swiftly. Mana pointed the wand to the ground, pooling her long rusty knowledge of magic. "Let the earth grumble in hunger, it yearns to feast.  ** _FISSURE!_**  "

A moment passed and they both didn't think it worked. Then the ground began to rumble and crack, Mana nearly fell over. The cracks travelled across the concrete before becoming thicker and deeper the closer it came to the van. The back tires feel into the cracks and they yelled in alarm. Perfect, that would buy her time for Malik to come back with whatever crazy plan he was up to.

They immediately zoned in on her standing across the courtyard and through the smoke.

" _Stupefy!"_

/Duck! / Darcy yelled, Mana took the advice and took cover behind a car. She heard one scream another spell, she couldn't make out the words, but suddenly the car was on fire.

"NO! We need her alive, she was with the Tomb Keeper! We need a hostage!"

/Try another spell!/ Darcy shrieked. Cars' had petrol and oil that didn't agree with fire and small pipes that expanded with enough heat.

"Mother Isis! Give me the strength to protect myself and others.  ** _SHIELD!_** " A blue light surrounded her like a bubble just as the car exploded. She could feel the warmed lick the skin as she curled into a ball. She rolled away and laid low and crawled as the shield went down, hidden by the smoke. With their combined effort they levitated the van. Some were standing back and arguing.

"IDIOT! Now we have no one!" She recognized the voice of the woman that said she could die. Darcy grinned, it was probably her wand she used to save their lives with.

"We have the Tablets, they were the top priority!" The one that shot the spell snapped, she could make out shadows in the smoke, just barely. "If the Dark Lord didn't know about the girl, why bother telling him and getting punished?"

"That is… He'll find out anyway!" one said, the youngest one that was told to kill her. He sounded scared. However this 'Dark Lord' was, he didn't sound like a good employer.

"But now we know that the Tomb Keepers have wizard connections. This is extremely useful information. Maybe he can overlook you four losing your wands and the Portkey!" By the sounds of it, it was the end of the conversation. She heard the leader bark orders and doors slamming.

She heard the van roar to life; she heard more yelling, tires skidding across the ground, a smash collision with a statue of a horse before finally hearing it take off with what sounded like the hand brake still on. She quickly got up so she could see which direction it was going. She coughed as smoke filled her lungs.

/Don't suppose you know how to fly, do you?/ Darcy asked weakly. Mana hadn't realized until then that the use of magic was taking its toll on Darcy; after all, it was her body feeling the strain of the sudden use of magic. Mana's first use of strong magic had her passed out for a few days. She couldn't afford that amount of time.

She heard the loud humming of a Motorbike; she looked behind her, her first thoughts going to Isabelle. But it sounded deeper. She didn’t have to wait long as out of the smoke Malik appeared on a Motorbike; she barely had enough time to register the outstretched arm. She grabbed it and found herself jumping onto the back of the bike. She held on to him tightly, terrified at the speed he was going at.

/Switch!/ Darcy yelled. Mana complied, she didn't like going so fast on anything that wasn't a horse. Malik was following the Van which was barely in eyeshot, he weaved through traffic and sometimes had to go on the side walk to avoid slowing down. Darcy was digging into the bag again and pulled out a silver thing on a chain, a snake with emerald eyes as its only decoration.

"This watch feels funny." She said out loud. /Feel it Mana?/

\Yeah.\

"What?" Malik yelled, they were going far too fast to try and catch up with the van.

[This watch feels funny!] She repeated more loudly through the link. It started glowed like a twinkling star, the glow pulsed like a heart, the beats becoming faster and faster. She could feel the magic grow bigger, warp and twist. She didn't feel okay, no; it felt like her skin was unravelling and ripping away.

[Darcy! What's happening?] Malik asked. He must have felt it too, because he had actually slowed down.

"Hold on!" She yelled. She held him tight with the watch close to her chest and his back. In a blink of an eye, they were not on the Australian Sydney streets anymore.

**Still Australia!**

**Museum, a few moments after Malik's call**

Ishizu pulled the battery out of her phone along with the sim card and threw it in the small bin under the front office table. Two more people had been killed with the green light; they weren't even security, just ordinary people that found interest in the artefacts. Guilt formed in her stomach, her visions had led her to put the Tablets on display, but didn't warn her that they would be in danger.

She only knew new people will emerge from the ancient past. It had been the same tactic to lure the Pharaoh out. But after he and the spirit of the Ring appeared there should have been no reason to keep the Tablets and artefacts on display. But the Necklace urged her to continue the world wide exhibit. Apparently, Malik found 'another spirit'.

The Necklace had warned her to hide, after years of wearing it she learned to interoperate certain feeling it gave her. No sooner had she asked to leave the meeting, bright flashes of light came into the room with loud  _CRACKS_ , the others screamed about guns while she ran. She was crouching behind the table, she had tried calling the police but the line had been cut. She concentrated hard on the Millennium necklace for any hints to the future. Pieces emerged. She saw brief images. A black dog, a screaming woman, a portrait and a lot of people with red hair. She frowned, future flashes were always the oddest.

" **We have new players in this game."**  She said to herself. When the necklace gave the signal to run she did, towards the lecture hall, Odion would be a target as well.

She ran head first into two people in robes. If she was anyone else she would have cursed out loud at the malfunctioning necklace and quickly dived for cover, but they had seen her, in a moment they would start blasting green spells again-

"We're not here to hurt you Ishizu!" A voice called out, she faintly remembered it. Realizing the necklace hadn't malfunctioned, but had led her to safety calmed her down; she stood up and patted herself of dust.

"I gathered as much, Bill Weasley." She said, she eyed the two. She had met Bill in Egypt, the red headed British man stood out with his red hair and freckled skin. He had a leather trench coat and black clothes. She could see sand in the layers of his clothes. "What are you doing here? Are you apart of this raiding party?" She asked it as a question, but it sounded like a warning at her sharp tone.

"No, we came to help you." The old man said. He looked  _incredibly_  old with a snow white beard and light blue robes, he looked like he belonged in another time. "We managed to intercept an attack on you."

"The woman and her brothers have to be found-" She didn't feel the necklace warn her, so she stayed calm as voices became louder. Three people came around the corner, running. They came to a halt as they spotted the three of them. Bill instantly drew a wand like the intruders. However the old man stayed perfectly calm.

"It's Dumbledore!" One whispered.

"Kill him!" Another shouted, pointing their wand at him. The old man smiled like the intruders had told him an amusing joke.

"William, take Miss Ishtar to safety." He said without turning around. Bill took hold of Ishizu's arm. "I'll find Odion and Malik Ishtar."

"Brace yourself. This will be unpleasant." Bill said. Before she could protest she felt the most horrible sensation of being pushed through a small piped, the crushing on her chest made it hard to breath. She couldn't see anything but blurs.

She felt herself land on solid ground with a small thud. It smelt dusty and old, not unlike a tomb. When her vision cleared she could see the black floorboards underneath her.

"Bill!" A woman's voice exclaimed. "No! You kids, back upstairs! Is she alright?"

She looked up, she could see faces, young faces with red hair.

**In Japan!**

**Ten minutes after we left off.**

_[Did we really have to mug them?]_  Yugi asked, standing in spirit form with his arm crossed. The thugs had run off with wounded sides and egos. Bakura was picking through their wallets and picking out cash. He had black gloves on to mask his fingerprints. If his Host was in jail, what would he do then?  _[Isn't that going a little far?]_

" _It's pretty poetic you know."_  Bakura reasoned. " _Pharaoh agrees or he'll be telling me off._ "

" _Shut up, Bakura._ " Yami, rolling his shoulder joint, one of the thugs got a lucky hit. Speed beat strength, but strength hurt went it actually managed to land a blow.

 _[We are going to need money.]_ Ryou pointed out. [ _We don't know how long we have to hide for._ ]

" _Exactly."_  Bakura nodded.  _"We're going to have to find out who they are, their 'master' and why they want us."_

 _[It's pretty obvious that they would be after the items. But it's strange how they didn't mention the items at all though, only us.]_  Yugi pointed out. _[So they don't know what they look like, since they saw the Puzzle and didn't talk about it. Which reminds me, I think we should hide the items now…]_  Yugi added. Yami nodded and zipped the hoodie up, good thing it was a loose fit or the bump it made would have been as bad as a flashy piece of gold. Bakura tucked the ring under his shirt.

" _We got to start in Britain then. That's where they are from; the best way to get information on them is to go to the source."_  Bakura said. He gathered the wallets and threw them into a bin. " _Let's go, they'll be in the area and scoping it._ "

 _[How are we going to get to Britain? We can't use shadow magic and I'm sure we just can't walk into an airport.]_  Ryou said.  _[Really, you can't. Don't take it as a challenge.]_  Bakura looked put out.

" _Well, other than Kaiba, there is only one person with the means and the money to help us get there under cover…"_  Yami trailed of, knowing it wasn't going to go well with the group.

 _[You're not suggesting…?]_  Yugi asked, feeling a slight panic well inside him.

" _Kuso!"_  Bakura swore, catching onto the Pharaohs plan. _"Why not ask Kaiba?"_ He whined.  _"He has a private jet we can ste- 'borrow'. He wouldn't mind."_

" _We're trying to stay clear of him so we don't draw attention to our friends, I thought you understood that."_  Yami said, shooting him a look at his slip up. " _I'm sure he's still on his island, not America._ "

 _[You're not going to America.]_  Ryou and Yugi chorused in a deadpan.

" _You do realize how pissed Kaiba will be when he finds out we went to Pegasus as well, right?"_  Bakura said, trying to change his mind.

" _Why are you so against going to Pegasus to help?"_  Yami questioned him. He paused before he it clicked together. _"… You have the eye don't you?"_

 _[What? Ew! You pulled that out of his skull!]_ Yugi said, making a face. Ryou had a guilty expression. He had known about the eye. Yami hadn't thought of it before now, someone stole from Pegasus, and who had been within a two hundred metre radius? Three guesses…

" _Oh shut up, I won it fair and square."_ Bakura huffed and seemed to pull it out of nowhere; he held it between his index and pointer. The eye was unsettling to say the least, as Yugi put it; it had once been Pegasus's head.  _"But I'm pretty sure he doesn't remember who stole it at any rate."_

 _[You nearly killed him!]_  Yugi exclaimed.

" _Whoops."_  Bakura said sarcastically. He threw the eye in the air before catching it mid air. " _Next time I'll make sure to finish the job._ "

" _It barely matters._ " Yami interrupted.  _"We need his help, and he might not be inclined to do so with the thief around."_

" _So… We'll bribe him?"_  Bakura asked, not thinking of any other way. _“We’ll owe him favours.”_

 _[No! Last time we had to attend one of his parties!]_  Yugi reminded. _[We STILL have people asking if we want sponsors!]_

" _But they were so fun to steal form! Especially when they realized their jewellery was missing half way through…"_

" _You planted half of your bounty on Joey and nearly got us all arrested."_  Yami reminded.

" _I ran out of pockets."_

 _[BACK to the matter at hand .We NEED his help.]_  Ryou sighed. Honestly, it was like keeping two five year olds separated.  _[Pharaoh is right. I don't know how we are going to convince him though.]_

 _[Then we could figure that out in the morning.]_ Yugi said, _[We need to find somewhere to rest, you can't run around using magic when you're tired, our bodies can't handle it.]_

" _Fine."_  Bakura said, surprisingly rather quickly. Yami had noticed Bakura had been treating his other half better than he had. He was still a pain in the ass and stole things. He remembered Ryou sharing a story of stealing a coffin and letting him wake up in it for sheer laughs.

" _Fine."_  Yami agreed. They were walking in the complete darkness, he was still scanning the area for any hints of the foreign magic, he seemed to be better at it then Bakura, which didn't make much sense as he had the Millennium Ring, which Bakura used to find other items. Maybe the Puzzle was more sensitive to other magic? _"Since you know places and people, where's the safest?"_

" _There is an abandon apartment lot a few blocks from here; we can get in through the window."_  Bakura said.

**Half hour later**

They both had to climb over the two metre high fence rather quickly. They had to avoid the dog. The large, brown dog that may or may not have rabies from the way it was foaming at the mouth. Yami was breathing heavily, red faced but glaring at the thief, who was hollering his lungs out.

" ** _You didn't tell me about the dog!"_**  He shot him an accusing glare. Bakura finally stopped laughing, but kept his grin. Some short cut. He had no doubt in his mind Bakura had planed the whole thing, from the dog to the car alarm going off, all to make him scream in alarm. Yugi had been laughing at him as well, up until the dog decided that the Egyptian spirit would make a nice snack.

" ** _Well, he was big enough to see, so I didn't bother._ "** He said. Ryou was behind him winching in sympathy.

" ** _Our pants are ripped! We only have one on us!_** " Yami said, examining the damage, the dog hadn't been able to draw blood, but ripped out the back of his right leg to the back of his knee. He looked back and gave the dog a glare, it glared back with the ripped leather pants in his jaws.

" ** _It's so funny when you switch to third person! You don't have multiply people in your head at all!_ "** He mocked.

 _[We packed extra clothes; I think some of the older ones will fit you.]_  Ryou supplied helpfully.

 _[Thank you, Ryou! It would be hard hiding if we're too easy to spot.]_  Yugi said with a smile.

 _\Can I take revenge on him?\_ Yami muttered darkly, still reeling from the resent dose of humiliation. He was thankful his friends weren't there. They would never let it die that the usually calm Pharaoh screamed like a child by being surprised.

 _/If he doesn't pay for them, yes./_  Yami grinned, they had gone shopping and they had argued over the price, by the end of the day they had blown a whole local tournament winnings on buying clothes they both liked.  _/Only petty revenge though./_

 _/Aw./_  Yami mock whined. Yugi mentally rolled his eyes.

" ** _Yo! Coming Princeling?_ "** Bakura yelled, he was standing under so retracting ladders that led up the side of the apartments. He climbed the side of the building and grabbed the side of the metal ladder structure and pulled himself up. He went for the ladder so Yami could climb up the easy way.

Not wanting to be out done, Yami followed his example, pulling himself up, he felt muscle pains as he stretched. He didn't show it on his face. Bakura might have been keeping him and his host in shape; he knew his nights were active. He landed next to Bakura with a bang as his feet hitting steel.

" **Huh, I give you a 9… out of 100. You're as silent as a charging elephant."** He commented, the window wasn't locked and he slid inside. Yami followed. It was dark, not that it bothered him. The moon rays were the only source of light.

" **Did you just try to compliment me?** " Yami asked, he stuck his head out the window.  **"Excuse me while I check the sky for hellfire."**

" **You're hilarious, now do you want pants or not?"**  He threw a pair of jeans at him, Yami stumbled as he didn't see it coming. " **I'm checking to make sure nothing else lives here, the coffee table was over there last time I was here.** " He left the room to check the apartment.

Yami barely knew what to make of the thief at the moment. Working together was almost natural, but it was uneasy and Bakura was making it as difficult as he could manage, the ripped pants being the best example of that. But he felt he could trust Bakura wouldn't stab them in their sleep, pretty much nothing to gain doing so. They needed each other to survive who knows how long, and Bakura wasn't one to take out a needed alley.

Still, Yami was extremely paranoid that Thief was going to sneak up behind him and scream ' _boo!'_  while he was changing. That will  _go so well_.

**In Britain!**

**Thirty seconds after we left Ishizu.**

Harry had never seen a woman so angry. Aunt Petunia yelled, but that was over the dishes and competing with the volume of the TV. Teachers yelled, sure, they were doing their jobs.

But a small Egyptian woman knocking a man about a foot taller than her to the ground by flipping him over her shoulder while holding his shirt _while_ yelling gibberish in a volume that rivalled Mrs. Black was now locked into his brain as the definition of 'angry woman'.

"Take. Me. Back." She said in a calm tone that no one trusted. "I have to go back." She went for the front door, staggering slightly from the apparate. Lupin grabbed her arm from the meeting room as she went for the handle.

"Calm down-!" he tried to say, but she wouldn't have it, she yanked her arm away from him with a surprising amount of force.

"My Brothers need me." She said through her teeth. "You have no idea what just happened, Malik needs me  _now,_ it's more important than you could ever understand."

She said something in gibberish again before covering her face. The strange necklace she had glowed brightly. Lupin let go, sensing she had calmed down. Order members were peering through the door to see what was happening.

"The professor is coming with my older brother now." She said in a surprising monotone for someone that was upset just moments ago, she backed away from the door. Only a moment later did Dumbledore and a confused brown skinned man with a tattooed face in a muggle suit come in behind him. He instantly locked onto the woman.

" **Little Sister!"**  he said, pulling her into an uncharacteristic hug. The older woman with red hair was shooing at least six kids up the stairs. The place seemed narrow. People were crowding around them, she was feeling mildly claustrophobic. Since the necklace gave no signs of danger, she bared with it.

" **I'm fine Odion.** " She said. She didn't mind the hug.  **"But Malik isn't, I felt something just a moment ago, he's dark half has woken up."**

" **Gods… that's bad."** He said. He knew full well the consequences of the darker Malik let loose. His brother had changed without his influence, if he went back to that…

"Would you please stop you're lovely chit chat and listen to us?" a voice growled. They turned their attention to a man while a strange strapped in eye that whirled in its socket. She noticed he had a number of fake limbs as well as a number of scars.

"What we are discussing is far more important than what you think." Odion said. His threatening size had him a whole head taller than the disfigured man. He stood his ground. ( **Alistair Moody** ) The necklace whispered to her.

"We have questions for you." He said. Odion narrowed his eyes in a warning.

"Starting with, how did you know that Dumbledore was a professor?" Bill said, stretching and supporting his back, the older woman she deducted as his mother ( **Molly Weasley** ).

"I know everyone's name." She stated. To prove her point she pointed to everyone she could see and recited their name, sometimes middle name, and sometimes their title. She use to love the shock and confusion as she did this. But she wasn't a teenager anymore.

"Yes, Professor Albus Dumbledore, we do have much too discuss, so we should get to business." She said. He nodded and indicated to the other room. Everyone sat and one closed the door behind them, one conjured two chairs from nowhere. She didn't bat an eyelid. Odion ignored the chair and stood behind his sister as she sat down, ever the silent bodyguard.

It was definitely the oddest bunch of people she had met, and she had met the Pharaoh and his friends.

"That was cool!" A woman with purple hair whispered to her. The necklace whispered to her one name. "Are you a seer?"

"No… and yes." She answered. She then addressed the group. "Now, I'll answer your questions, and you answer mine. I'll help you anyway I can as long as you help us."

"Agreed." Dumbledore immediately said.

"Firstly, I want our brother found immediately." She said. "Malik Ishtar, Blond hair, tanned skin, violet eyes, gold jewellery."

"Lupin. Tonks. Go to Australia and search for him." Dumbledore ordered. They both stood to attention without question.

"He will be with someone and he may be on a purple Motorbike." She added, seeing a glimpse of two figures on a bike going at an incredible high speed. "Be cautious and don't underestimate him, if you get him to listen to him, tell him ' **your sister sent us.'**  If he attacks you, run, if he hesitates before attacking you knock him out."

"That seems harsh." Tonks said, a few others were a little shocked at what she said.

"It's the procedure. He would be upset that we disappeared and quite possibly been attacked as well. His panic fits are not a sight to see." She paused, the promise Malik had asked her lingered in her mind in the event that Darker Malik ever resurfaced. She grimaced. "He will understand."

Tonks repeated the Egyptian words until she got it right, the two of them left the room.

"Right. I will go first." She already had a good idea what was going on, the necklace kept looking into the future, she lived in three worlds, the distant past, the present and moments into the future. "Where are we?"

"Britain, this is our safe house." Dumbledore answered. Moody shot him a look. She could see he didn't trust them. She didn't question how she got there. Magic, obviously. Dumbledore was also cutting right to the point.

"Who were the people that attacked us?"

"Death Eaters, they work for Lord Voldemort-" Many people winched at the name, she tried looking for his real name, and surprisingly came up with nothing. This man did not call himself by his real name at all. "We are the order of the Phoenix, he's recently returned to power, the British government is turning a blind eye while slandering my name and a young boy upstairs to discredit us." His expression didn't change, but his tone gave away how grave it was. "By the sound of the people we encountered, they are new recruits."

"New Recruits?" Sirius asked, standing up. "Didn't you recognize them?"

"No, which means they are recruiting outside of Hogwarts." Dumbledore clarified. An uneasy silence followed.

"And THAT means he's in other countries." Arthur Weasley, Bill's father said, frowning in thought. "This is unsettling."

"I already figured as much since he attacked these people in Australia. Our turn." Moody said, his odd eye stared at her. "Who are you?"

"I am Ishizu Ishtar, this is Odion Ishtar." She introduced. "Our younger brother is absent at the moment, but he is Malik Ishtar. We are Tomb keepers of the Nameless Pharaoh."

"That's Egyptian." Bill said, more to the rest of the group as he took a look at the folder. "Nameless Pharaoh…"

"Our family had been tasked by Pharaoh Seth three millennia ago to look after the Tomb and tablets. Along with the duty to watch out for the Pharaohs return and keep the secret hidden."

She explained the story of the evil and how the Pharaoh sacrificed his body, memories and soul to seal it away. She didn't like to, it was the family secret, it was supposed to stay secret. But the Necklace had pulled her in this direction and she had to follow the road it led.

"We call him the 'Dark Pharaoh.'" Bill said after she finished. "With the information we have, he was master of the darkness and plagued Egypt into chaos. Pharaoh Seth had over thrown him, sealed him away and took over the throne."

"That is an interesting take." She said, each word showing her anger levels rising. "But the Pharaoh had sacrificed  _everything_. Our religion states without a name or body he would have wandered the earth until he found a way to be complete again."

"I understand," Dumbledore said, as Bill opened his mouth. "But we also know that you keep more than that. Do you know there are Ancient Egyptian artefacts that awaken magic in people? I'm sure you do."

She stayed silent and calculated her next move. She couldn't claim ignorance of the items when one hung around her neck. Out of nowhere, he produced a folder, opening it and levitated it to her. Inside were pictures Of Yugi Mutou and Ryou Bakura, both with their items around their necks.

"You're looking for the items." She accused. She had no weapons, no martial arts to defend herself with, but she had the Necklace. By the Items it could be considered skilled, but weak. However, she can quiet possible give someone a bad trip to the shadow realm, or overload their mind with terrible visions.

"No. At first, we were looking for the boys. They have magical powers and they need to be taught how to control them."

"They don't need to be taught." She said with hostility in her voice. "Besides, did you think you could teach them,  _professor?_  But now you know of the items, you want them too? I bid you good luck in trying to separate them from the boys." Both the Pharaoh and the Thief were territorial of both the items and their hosts. If someone threatened them they would find out what the inside of a Man Eater Bug looked like.

"Since the Dark Lord expresses interest in the Items, we need to know about them." Dumbledore said. "Even the basics will do."

She sighed, if that was the best he could offer she would have to take it. She continued to explain how the Pharaoh had been sealed into a Millennium Item, at he would be reincarnated again and again until his body and his soul were reunited to become one, along with sharing what the Millennium Items were used for and how they were the symbol of peace. She noticed their interest peak when she mentioned how powerful they were.

"I'm sure you will agree that the Items cannot fall into the Dark Lord's hands." He said. "I offer sanctuary from him and his followers at my school."

"They will not be a part of your war." Ishizu said coolly, getting more flashes of the future. She could see the school. A giant castle under attack, green smoke filled the air, forming a picture of a skull with a snake tongue, running, screaming, death in the air. "Not my brothers, not the Pharaoh, not even Bakura! They have enough to handle without dealing with a war that has nothing to do with them."

She sensed in her moment of frustration she let something slip. She called Yugi 'Pharaoh'. She had never slipped up,  _ever._  The stress of the situation must have been getting to her. the wizards picked up on it as quickly as she did.

"Pharaoh? This boy here is the reincarnation of the Dark Pharaoh?" Molly pulled the folder away from her son to get a better look at the two, from the names she easily figured out which one was which. "But, look at him! He's only a child, he looks younger then Ginny!"

She could hear the distress in the mother's voice. Yugi did look like a middle schooler when he was actually sixteen, she could see where the mother's sympathy came in, the large, innocent eyes, small structure and friendly smile threw everyone off when they met his other half. Bakura was much the same, he had a shy smile and soft brown eyes. They both looked loveable and harmless. The perfect disguise for the spirits.

"Please don't call him that." She said. He was wielder of the shadows, by wizard implications, 'Dark' was synopsis for 'Evil'. The Pharaoh wasn't evil, but the same couldn't be said about the Thief. "But, yes. He is."

" **Sister.** " Odion said, they didn't just reveal the secret to anyone, he was weary of the magic users as much as she was. She realized she was becoming inpatient and calmed down, they couldn't talk properly if it turned into a fight. Moody stood up with an accusing finger.

"I knew it! Dark magic." The magical eye whizzed around his head. "That thing around your neck is radiating it! A dark item is I ever saw one."

"Correct." She said, not even denying it. Several order members gasped and backed away in their seats. "The items were made in a ritual that required sacrifices. The recipe to make the items where in an already ancient book, which has long since been lost since they were created."

"… Does this book have a gold eye on it, just like on the necklace?" The one named Snape asked. The first time he had talked the entire meeting. Her eyes widened, there was only a small description of the book in one of the private scriptures. There was no way to know what it could possibly look like without being a tomb keeper or actually  _seen_ it.

"Why, Severus?" Kingsley asked.

"Because the Dark Lord holds in his possession a book of that description." His words caused the necklace to vibrate. She knew it wasn't ridiculous of the items, even the ones without spirits to have a consciousness. She felt a shiver go down the spine when she realized the message it was sending her.  _Fear_.

"You didn't tell us that." Sirius narrowed his eyes at Snape, who wasn't the least bit intimidated.

"I told Dumbledore, dog. That should be good enough for you." He sneered. This seemed to cause a stir with the members. She could sense the distrust. He was a spy, a double agent. "A wizard fraction in Egypt came and gave it to him, in exchange they would be allowed into the ranks of the Death Eaters."

" **Betrayers!** " Odion hissed. Ishizu didn't show her surprise, but she was fuming to. The ancient secrets of the sands had to stay in Egypt. Who were these people? Other tomb keepers she didn't know about? If so, why had they sold out such a secret?

"Is it the same book?" Sirius asked sharply.

"I cannot be sure." She said truthfully. "The book is more ancient than the items, no one knows when it was made, or who made it." "We only know of one spell on its pages, the one that created the Items which nearly destroyed Egypt and the world."

"Then they have to be destroyed." Moody growled.

"I agree." Sirius said. Ishizu found herself laughing at them, a cruel one that sent a shiver down the spines of several order members.

"You know  _nothing._ " She stood up. "Do you  _think_  that it has never crossed anyone's mind in the last  _three thousand years_? Do you think it is just that  _easy?_  The priest long ago ordered the items to be hidden, so one day the Pharaoh can finally make it to the afterlife! To destroy the items before that happens will spell disaster for everyone, as the Evil will be set free. The Items, the Pharaoh, his sacrifice are the seal keeping it locked away. If anything happened to the Items or the Pharaoh, everyone is dead." She stopped dramatically, catching her breath.

"Try and find them." She challenged, sitting down again, Odion put his hands on her shoulders. "These two are in Japan. But if they have been attacked as well, they will be like oiled snakes. You just try and get them to sit down and talk to you." She knew she was sending them to pretty much hell at the moment, frankly, she barely cared. "I'll even tell you where they are going, just so they can reject your offer as well."

"Where?" Dumbledore asked. He sounded as old as he looked at that moment. She gave no sympathy. She didn't trust him at all, even if the necklace was pushing her in this direction she was still entitled to her own instincts.

"Tomorrow at midday they will be on Maximillion Pegasus's private island, commonly known as 'Duellist kingdom'. High Muggle security, Higher Magical security." She paused, getting a flash of a young Pegasus holding a wand. He was also a wizard. "They don't realize it's the best place for them at the moment."

"...Is it a good or bad thing that I recognize that name?" Sirius asked. Arthur groaned and Kingsley sighed. They were apart off the slowly corrupting magical government. She got a flash of a strange court room, a younger Pegasus yelling at the court, clearly distressed and desperate. The story came to her in flashes before the entire picture had formed.

"You denied Cecilia Pegasus treatment because she was a 'muggle'?" Ishizu asked, feeling sick. She didn't have to; she knew the answer but couldn't believe it. A community shunned a woman because she wasn't 'like them'. She could see the Young Pegasus snapping his own wand and throwing it at the judge, who looked shocked at his actions. "You people  _sicken me._ "

No one asked how she knew, figuring that the dark necklace was helping her see into the past. They had caught on pretty quickly, she hadn't pinned them down as 'narrow-minded.'

"You have to understand that it happened at an extremely bad time," Arthur said, but she could see that he was ashamed of his Ministry. "The Ministry was concerned for the clean-up off Death Eaters. They had no time for his case."

"Would they have cared?" She asked. They averted their eyes. This entire community was corrupt and disgusting. What would have happened if Pegasus hadn't turned to resurrecting his wife, what if he had gone for revenge? He was dangerous without magic with his muggle connections, magical powers and the anger that a broken heart brought would have been devastating. . "I will stay and help." She stated. Law and order had to be restored. It was none of her business, but the vision of Cecilia un-nerved her greatly, the Catalyst that could have gone either way. Without her Death, the Pharaoh might have still thought of himself as Yugi, Duellist Kingdom and Battle City wouldn't have happened, so many things riding on one woman's life… Had it been Fate?

If that was the case, then it was on her side. Pegasus will inform the Pharaoh and Thief when they reached his Island. The Pharaoh and his light will want to help, they were like that. She didn't know about the Thief, he was a wild card she wouldn't trust.

Yes, they will get involved. But only so they can become players in their game, not a weapon for either side.


	5. Rest(less)

  1. **Rest(less)**



**?**

When his sight returned and his skin stopped crawling, Malik realized three things. One, that is was now morning when it was supposed to be mid-afternoon. Two, it was  _freezing_  and he wished he had a jacket, actually, three of them in layers. The third was he was now driving straight into a wall.

"BREAK!" Darcy screeched like he wasn't trying to. Malik had already pulled back and the wheels were smoking. He wasn't going to stop in time. He steered the bike towards a pile of garbage bags to make the landing softer. He felt her grab his shoulders and pull him off the bike. The bike skidded into the fence on its side while they rolled in the alley, coming to a halt. Malik groaned and sat up, rubbing his head. Darcy had pulled him off and was a few feet away in a similar state.

 **\Woo! That was fun! Now this time let's push her off while going faster!\**  A voice cackled. Malik gritted his teeth and tried to block him out.

"You alright?" Darcy asked, a few feet away, nursing her hand. She got up first and checked over herself. The spirit was standing close to her, looking over for injuries as well.

 **\Totally, he just likes nursing his bleeding head, Girly.\** Malik removed his hand to actually see blood. Lovely, he traced the cut across his hairline.

"No." He growled, getting up. He had not meant to, but his anger had been redirected from the voice in his head to the only one helping him. "That could have gone a lot smoother if I stayed on the bike."

 ** _\_** **Yes! Kill her! _\_**  the voice whispered.  **\That will teach her for saving your life!\**

The growl that escaped his lips might have sounded like it was directed to her. Darcy growled back with equal ferocity.

"Well, excuse us for panicking!" Darcy snapped, crossing her arms and winced when her hand got touched. "It was either you getting hurt or your bike, which can be fixed quicker than bones. Maybe next time we'll leave you on your own!"

[When you two are done bickering you might feel the concentration of magic right next to us.] Mana interrupted. Malik and Darcy let off their glaring to listen to the spirit. Malik picked himself up and touched the wall next to them and tried sensing magic.

"She's right, I've never felt anything like it before." He said. The closest he could think of was how it felt like the Pharaoh's tomb. The magic was not as old as the tombs, but the type of protection was similar. "It feels like it's shielding something."

Darcy scoffed, still insulted from before. "How do we get in then, genius?"

[We can use the front door.] Mana said. She had walked out of the alley and onto the main street. She looked up at a sign. [The Leaky Cauldron, catchy.]

"So we're parked right outside a terrorist hiding spot?" Darcy asked, following the spirit out of the alley, Malik was less reluctant to leave his bike but ultimately followed. "Do we go in stealthy or guns blazing? I'm particularly a fan of undercover."

"Only an idiot goes into an enemy base without knowing the numbers of the people inside." Malik scoffed, stepping in front of her and blocking her path. Darcy shot him a look.

"That's why I said undercover, to learn that." Darcy said. Her eyes widened as she looked over Malik's shoulder. He looked behind him, thinking there was someone sneaking up on them. There was no one and he frowned. "We are very far from Australia."

"What? How do you know?" He asked, they had been teleported, but he didn't dwell on how far until she brought it up. He couldn't tell the difference, he did not know much about Australia anyway or what Darcy was indicating was wrong.

"I only know one place that has double decker buses like those, and that's  _London_." The streets were crowded with cars and the mentioned bus turning away into another street.

"We were teleported halfway across the world in a blink of an eye?" Malik asked, trying to understand. "I wouldn't have thought their magic was that sophisticated." He stopped someone walking past by grabbing their shoulder. "You, Person, say something!"

"Uh… hi?" The man said, looking back and forth between the two clearly foreign teenagers. One whose face was covered in blood and shaking him and had emerged from a dark alley. Not one someone would immediately trust.

"You're British!" Malik said, recognizing the accent that was very similar to Ryou and Bakura's. He was sure Bakura sounded British because he picked it up from Ryou.

"Yeah… Can I go now?" The guy asked, looking nervous at the two. Darcy sighed and rolled her eyes.

"You can go." Malik said, loosening his grip and backing away slightly. The man turned and walked quickly.

"Did you have to do that?" Darcy asked, looking annoyed. "It's going to be hard hiding if you shout at people."

"I'll fix it then." He turned to the direction of the man and yelled again. "You, Person!" the poor guy turned around with a strained look on his face, having not power walked away quick enough. Malik held the Rod out in front of him. "Forget you saw us."

A golden glow shaped like an eye appeared on the man's forehead, the millennium rod's eye did as well. Malik turned the rod away and the glow disappeared. The man scratched his head and turned away and walked.

"That was even riskier. What is someone saw you?" She questioned.

"Like you have any better ideas." He grumbled. Why was she criticizing  _everything?_  They stood in front of the 'pub' but it was difficult. There was a strange feeling it gave off, it could have been a spell to keep people away, " _Leave, keep moving"_  Malik could practically hear what the magic was whispering to him. He was surprised when a white handkerchief was trusted under his nose and he had to take a step back. Darcy was holding it out with a raised eyebrow.

"You look like you got stabbed in the face with all that blood." She said, indicating his forehead. "Maybe you'll scare less people that way."

He frowned at the kind gesture but took the handkerchief, he was having a difficult time pinpointing this girl's personality. First, she was angry, then frustrated, then more angry, then thoughtful. When Yugi and Ryou had much more timid personalities he couldn't exactly say the same about Darcy.

Mana had walked through the door and soon came back out with a bewildered expression on her face before another word could be uttered between the two. [It looks like a regular pub on the inside, people are dressed in robes though, and one is dressed like a ninja…] Mana scratched her head as if it would clear her thoughts.

"Maybe it's one of those dress-up for half price meals places." Darcy said, smirking. Malik and Mana ignored her comment.

"No one from the attack, but one place wouldn't have that much magic protection without it hiding something." Mana said, looking in again. "I think they are all magic users."

Malik mauled over the implications as he dabbed his forehead clean of blood. There were people that could use magic, but were hiding from the world. He was trying hard to figure out why. Shadow magic turned the tides of a war and annihilated any of Egypt's enemies. If there were people that had this power, why weren't they making themselves known?

"So, undercover it is." Darcy grinned like a child at Christmas, rubbing her hands together. She pulled the bag off her back and handed him a wand, which he quickly hid in his back jean pocket. "Watch and learn, blondie. Try and keep up."

Before he could protest she opened the door and went inside, she made a show of checking inside and spotting the bartender, an old man with white hair and a few missing teeth.

"G'day." Her light accent became thicker with Australian lingo, she leaned on the bar. "Can you help some lost folk out?"

"What do you need help with, love?" He smiled, charmed. Malik scoffed at how easy Darcy had won the man over, Malik's acting skills were so much better.

"Can we have a room please? Just a few days. We're traveling you see, we need a break from the road." Malik remembered watching a movie when the accent was this thick. Something to do with crocodiles. Darcy grabbed Malik's hand and pulled him closer; he mustered a weak smile and wave.

"Of course, just the two of you girls?" The bartender asked, indicating to Malik.

Malik could feel his face go red as he gasped out. "I'm a guy!" Mana giggled over their shoulders.

"Apologies." The bartender said with raised eyebrows. "Don't worry mate, gets it all the time." Darcy brushed off, but kept her smile. She shot Malik an amused look as he crossed his arms in annoyance.

"That would be 7 gallons for three days for the both of you, including breakfast and housekeeping." Tom tallied up. Darcy's smile faded at the foreign currency. She honestly didn't think these people would have a different money system. She had her savings card in her palm and knew it would be useless.

"Do you take card?" She asked awkwardly anyway, waving the piece of plastic in his face. But the look of it, no.

"Don't worry, many Muggleborns make the same mistake. I'm sure the bank will be able to do a muggle trade for you." He said kindly, moving from the bar. "Do you want me to show you the Alley?"

"Yes please, thank you that would be much appreciated." Malik piped up, Darcy was a little taken back at his kind smile and soft voice. He was keeping up with her, when Tom looked away from her Malik sent her a smug smile.

"Follow me." The Bartender motioned.

[The alley we were just in?] Darcy sent through the link. That had to be wrong. They followed Tom outside another door which led out in the open, however tall walls surrounded them. It appeared to be a dead end.

[Well, I did say this place has protection magic. Maybe this 'Alley' is what is being protected.] Mana put a hand on the wall before phasing through it. She quickly came back with a look of amazement.

[It's gorgeous!] She said.

"Watch where I tap closely so you can come back again without help, though you can always ask me if you do forget." Tom smiled, taking his wand out and touching bricks in a clockwise motion. There was nothing for a moment, then a rumble and the bricks began to shift to the sides. They were standing at the beginning of a new alley.

"Wow." Darcy said softly in awe. People in pointed hats and robes were walking up and down the streets. The shops were packed close to each other and each had something different inside. The closest one was a Library looking place that was filled with books to them being stacked outside the door. After a short goodbye and name exchange, Tom left them to marvel the Alley.

"An entire community of these magic users  _here,_  the closest I've seen to something like this was tomb keeper get together." Malik commented, he breathed in, the magic in the air was thick and he was not surprised that he was able to feel it when they were outside.

[I never thought Magic could have survived like this.] Mana said, she was floating around, almost dashing across the street as they walked down.

"That must be the bank." Darcy pointed to the white building at the end of the alley. It helpfully had  **Gringotts Wizard Bank** in big gold letters at the top.

"Which reminds me. That was far too close back there." Malik said, pausing. She stopped walking as well and faced him. "If he wasn't so nice we would have been screwed."

"I was going off the fly; I think I did pretty well." She said smugly. “Better than using the rod at the drop of a hat.”

"We shouldn't do that anymore. We need a plan if we're going to make this work." He said. She now looked more annoyed.

"We are in a foreign country, possibly in enemy territory and we have no idea what's going on, yeah genius, we need a plan." She snapped. There was a pregnant pause between them as Malik gathered his thoughts to reply.

"So, you're pretty much Jekyll and Hyde all by yourself?" He asked, her reaction was a raised eyebrow. "Because even without the spirit I am finding it hard to keep up with your mood swings."

[I'm sorry about Darcy. She gets moody when she needs sleep.] Mana butted in, cringing slightly as Darcy closed her eyes for a moment. [I used some heavy magic a while ago, it's not going well with her.]

"No need to be sorry for me, I don't need a cover for being a bitch." She waved her hand at the spirit. Malik noticed she looked exhausted. He felt exhausted too, more mentally than anything else as he was holding his darker half back.

[We should swap.] Mana tried to convince. [You're tired.]

"Who is more street wise out of us?" Darcy asked. Mana didn't reply, Darcy nodded at her silent agreement. 

"First, let's get our priorities straight. We need to go after the thieves." Malik said. Darcy shook her head.

"Shouldn't we plan ahead? Get money suitable for this place, and get a disguise?" She said which good points were as well.

"The more we goof around the further those artifacts get." He explained. "Besides, if we are going to be staying here since we can't just hop on a plane back to Australia we're going to need supplies."

"Exactly what I meant," Darcy said, rolling her eyes. "Go to the bank, get a disguise. I would like to go to an ATM and get a cash-out so my name is not in this weird magic banks database."

\Oh Isis. I was afraid of you two  _not_  getting along. But you find a kindred spirit in criminal planning.\ Mana moaned.

"We should split up then," Malik said. "Cover more ground and save time."

"That would be very annoying," Darcy said, shaking her head again. "Splitting up is a bad idea. Don't you watch horror movies?"

"You have a phone, don't you? We can swap numbers and call." He suggested.

"I'm not sure they will work here, my sim card doesn't cover  _Britain._ "

"Point." Malik sighed. "But the best plan we have at the moment is to split up, you get the money and clothes and I search the area." He proposed. "Meet back in the pub when the sun goes down. If not..." There was no way they would be able to find each other if things didn't pan out well. They both knew this.

"Hide? You have a bigger chance of getting caught then I do, we should look for each other if we don't make it back to the pub." She paused. "Can you track items down?"

"No, that's the Ring's specialty but I can feel if one is close or not, most Items have that. And I won't need a disguise; I'll blend with the shadows and won't do anything to get me noticed, okay?" She was frowning.

[It's the best plan we got Darcy.] Mana decided to say. [Tonight we can lay out a better plan.] Darcy gave the spirit a look before caving in.

"Fine."  _Yes! Thank you, spirit!_ He thought when she agreed. It was like how Yugi calmed Yami down, and how Ryou got Bakura to behave sometimes. It was fascinating that it was the host that was more erratic than the spirit. "Sundown and you're not back I'm looking for you."

"Back at you." He moved into a nearby alley made a quick check for people and held the Millennium rod in his back pocket and let the shadows cloud over him and essentially made himself invisible, granted, he would have to stick to the shadows, but he was planning on searching the back alleys first anyway. Darcy was already walking in the direction out of the Alley and back to the Pub. Hopefully, everything will go smoothly.

**One hour later**

**Wristlet**

She was finished with the money business much quicker than she expected. She ventured out into the normal world, found an ATM that took her cards and withdrawn a grand. She winced as her saving took a hit, but it was necessary. She came back to the Inn with a new bag filled with clothes. She had to guess Malik's size but she went with 'skinny'.

The Bank was not what she expected, It was gigantic, and the people running it... weren't actual people. They were short, none came higher than her hip and they all looked like grumpy old men. Goblins, they called themselves and exchanged her money and gave her a free bag which held it all. They muttered about Muggleborns not knowing what to do. Mana was tickled pink at the magic bag and commented about the many protection charms she felt under the stone ground.

There was much to learn. And what better way than to read about it? Their next destination was the bookstore; Mana had been bugging her about it since they got to the bank. Inside was amazing, as it was much bigger than she expected. Books were stacked, shelved and falling all over the place and two stories high. She didn't usually read much but she could feel Mana jittering in excitement.

"Hello, Hogwarts student?" The Bookkeeper asked her as she walked in. She paused as she tried to come up with something quickly, but found herself stumped.

\What do we say? Sounds like a school.\ Mana said. \A school of Magic. So much has changed...\

/We have to keep our story straight, can't say one thing to the bartender and something else to the bookkeeper, they might meet up for coffee./ Darcy said, Then she smiled at the man, lacking her accent on thick. "No sir, I'm a tourist, this place looks so interesting."

"Oh, Australia? Isn't school in the last term at the moment?" He recognized her accent and she felt herself getting cornered, she had no idea of a magic school in Australia, and he could be bluffing her-

\It's just an innocent question, calm down.\

"We're having a break before exams." She said of the top of her head. "I'm hoping to do a paper on Hogwarts, my school and several others and the difference between the education systems."

"Oh really?" he said, having a slight frown on his face. "Hogwarts first term starts soon, I wonder if you could organize an exchange with your school." He pondered, but smiled and stood up, making his way over to one of the shelves. "To business,  _Hogwarts, a history_. Complete updated History of Hogwarts up until two years ago." She sighed in relief as it seemed he believed the lie, he passed the book over to her. "How about spell books, to see if you're taught the same thing?"

"That would be excellent, thank you." Mana was almost bouncing as the textbooks began to stack. "How about modern history, for some background knowledge?" She asked.

With the Bookkeeper, it was much easier to find what she needed. She was going to have to do a lot of reading to figure this all out. The more you know about what's around you, the better your advantage, right? She realized she had accumulated eight rather thick books she couldn't carry in one go. She asked if she could leave them here as she got a case, and he directed her to another shop.

She heard a loud bump and turned to the source like many others had. A pile of cauldrons had been knocked over, and then the next shop had the animals shriek as an invisible thing ran into it. The shadow's were having a difficult time masking Malik in the raw daylight, it shimmered slightly. She noticed the blood that appeared from nowhere and stained the path.

"Stop! Thief!" Someone came out of an alley dressed in black, he angrily turned his head down the path to find the invisible figure. "He has a cloak, follow the blood!"

/Can we do that?/ Darcy asked, ducking into an alley,

\Switch, I'll handle this.\ Mana took control and concentrated, letting the shadows consume them. She couldn't see Malik, but the blood would lead anyone straight to him and judging by the blood, he was heavily wounded.

[Malik! Where are you?] She didn't get an answer and her worry grew.

[Fix the blood first! Or he's screwed!] Darcy said, pointing to the trail. Mana pointed at it, tracing the path, she had to be quick or the people will find him.

"Scrub the blood away,  **evaporate**." Mana said, the reaction of the blood beginning to smoke and fade away was shock of the magic people. Darcy felt herself get dizzy but shook it off, she had to get used to it if they wanted to actually accomplish something.

"He's cleaned his trail, blast it!" The man growled, waving his wand in the air shouting spells, she could feel every one of them circle the air. She waved her hand and they vanished, whatever they were made to do, they couldn't do it.

"Who was if Borgin?" Another man came out of the alley, again dressed in black, he was tall and had a hooked nose. Borgin growled at him.

"Dunno, Didn't see him, he nicked a few of my items-" She stopped listening as he started to curse up a storm and mentally called out for Malik. "Hell, he's not getting far; he set of one of the traps. If he wants to live he's going to have to get to the hospital. Then I'll catch him."

Darcy and Mana shivered at the man's words and their mental calls became much more desperate.

[I'm down here.] They heard a weak reply as Darcy crossed another dark alley. She let the shadows fade from her as Mana came in. They saw Malik was doing the same making him much easier to find. He was leaning against the wall. He was pale, which was an achievement with his tan. His right shoulder was caked in blood, his shirt was soaked. He dropped a brown sack to hold his arm, blood dripped from his fingertips as it traveled down his arm, covered in red. It was starting to pool on the ground.

[Oh god,  _my god_ that's a lot of blood.] Darcy covered her mouth and took a step back, face pale.

"That looks  _bad._ " Mana said, coming closer to him. They didn't have any bandages or anything that could be used to stem the flow.

"It feels bad, Sherlock!" He growled, sliding down the wall. She crouched down next to him and tried to look at it. She conjured a ball of light above their heads. "It feels weird, there's residue magic on it." He strained to say.

"Hold still, let me try healing you." She said.

/What? We've only healed a bird wing, that's _bigger._  / Darcy said. /We don't want to risk killing him. I know you were a good magician Mana but that-/

\So we let him bleed to death instead? We have to take action before it's too late, Darcy.\ Mana replied she checked Malik's forehead for his temperature. \Step back then, I know you can't stand blood.\

"Have you done this before?" He asked, taking his hand away from his shoulder. Darcy winced at the large cut and how it was still bleeding so badly. Mana kept her cool and prepared her and their body for the much more difficult magic they were going to try.

"No." She answered truthfully, and touched his bleeding shoulder, the blood flow didn't seem to be stopping at all and it was scaring her that there was magic attacking it, making sure it didn't heal. She let out a breath. **"Isis, I pray to you. Give me the strength to heal these wounds.** "

For a moment, the wound sealed itself, then burst out again and continued to bleed. Malik screamed out and bit his lip to stop himself. His hand tensed and Mana grabbed it to give his some type of reassurance.

"Sorry! It didn't work, let me try again-" She tried not to let the panic come into her tone. She closed her eyes as Darcy put her hands behind her neck and paced, agitated that she couldn't do anything, and that she was useless in this situation to begin with. " **Isis, give me the power to remove this curse, please, remove the curse.** " With a white glow and a fizzle, the wound seemed to zip itself up again, the blood dried up, and there wasn't a trace on his skin, only his shirt. She waited to see if it would open again, when it didn't, she removed her hand, and realized how tightly her other one was holding Malik's. "I think I got it."

"You did." He said, sitting up slightly. Malik touched his shoulder and couldn't feel the wound anymore. "I feel better, much better." He flexed his fingers, then his elbow and winced. "That was so close." He looked at Mana again. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it, we're switching." Mana said, and then Darcy began to talk. "C-can you walk?" She asked, helping him up. He had to lean against the wall again, his colour was returning, so maybe they didn't have to worry about blood loss.

"Yeah, it's just my shoulder." He grinned weakly, Darcy returned one. She pulled out a jacket from her new bag, a black hoodie. She was looking away from him as she held it out to him.

"Wear this and go back to the pub, Tom should take you to our room." She said. "We'll meet you back there; I need to finish getting some things."

**Rod**

His arm felt numb but was glad he was still alive. It could have killed him and he knew it. He should have been in and out like a good crook. But that was Bakura's specialty, not his. He was laying on one of the beds in their room, even if it was only near midday he felt exhausted, maybe because in Australia the sun was setting, or maybe because of the momentary blood loss. Either one was a good explanation.

"Nice abs." Darcy commented off handily as she came into the room, He sat up and looked down. He forgot he took his blood soaked shirt off a while ago and had left it in the bathroom in the sink.

" I work out." he replied smugly. "What's with that?" He indicated to the suitcase, it wasn't too big that they would have difficulty lugging it around, but it was by no means small either.

"Know your enemy, that's why." She said, resting the suitcase on the end of her bed and opening it, revealing the mass amount of books she bought. "Time-consuming, but we have nothing unless you found something before getting your shoulder cut."

"I did find something. I found out where the tablets were fenced to." He started, running a hand through his hair. "The shop seemed to be the criminal run, pretty damn shady people. I saw some of the people who took the tablets in the first place talking to the owner, something about not being able to keep it here, didn't have enough room for them and they got angry and he said he was 'untouchable'. I looked everywhere in the shop for them, but they weren't there." He sat up straighter and tested his shoulder. It was stiff and strange to move. "Though I did find a few things, Ancient Egyptian in origin that I had to take." He opened the brown bag he had on the floor next to him and pulled out a large leather-bound book with the eye of illusion on it. He wiped it clean of dust before passing it over to Darcy.

[That's mine.] Mana said, as Darcy opened it and flicking through the pages, barely believing her eyes. Before his eyes the girls switched again. "This is mine, from all those years ago when I was an apprentice... It even has my notes in it! How did they get it?" She frowned and closed the book.

"That's what I was trying to figure out, anything from the thirty year gap that ever survived is with the tomb keepers." He said. "No my family, another one. We thought it was best to have the artifacts shattered so if something like this happened, thieves wouldn't have everything."

"Do you think they were taken off Tomb Keepers?" Mana asked. "How did these people find them? Or know where to look?"

[More importantly, what are we dealing with?] Darcy imputed, they both turned to her as she sat cross-legged on the floor in spirit form. [It must be only a few people, I remember one of them saying at the museum that their master would be angry. So... a criminal organization with a dash of Cult?]

"Most likely," Malik said. "So they are not rare hunters like I first thought." All the people in the museum and on the news was this terrorist organization instead.

"What are rare hunters, by the way?" Mana asked, interest painted across her face. "You mentioned them when we were being followed."

"Nothing of Importance." He brushed away, he put a hand on his chin. "It would explain how they knew about the tablets." He mused. "They might have gotten hold of one of the tomb keeper families." He sighed again and sat back. "They did mention 'an accurate informer' they had. That could mean anything, though." He paused, thinking to the Tomb keeper get together, the only time he saw other people in his underground life. He was usually kept away as his father and the other heads of the family talked, but he had met a few people. Most he had not thought about in years. "Jeeze, I hope they're okay."

"I hope so." Mana said, "Darcy, can you give me an hour to read this?"

"Sure, I'll take a nap." Darcy disappeared and presumably into the Wristlet. Malik stood up and grabbed the black hoodie of the end of the bed.

"I'm having another shower, I still smell like blood." He said, turning to the side door where the bathroom was, he heard a loud thump behind him of what sounded like the book hitting the ground.

 **"RA, WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR BACK?"** He jumped as Mana screeched out. He turned back to her, unable to understand her reaction.

"Family tradition, as cited by Pharaoh Seth." He answered, he couldn't keep the bitter tone out of his words. "Secrets of the Pharaoh on the first born male tomb keepers back." But wouldn’t she know…?

"Seth wouldn't order that. He wouldn't ask someone to do that..." She ran a hand through her hair and kept it behind her neck. She was pacing in small circles while muttering more to herself than anything else. "What the hell? What the HELL?"

[Mana calm down-] Darcy was standing as well, having her hands up and nearly waving at the Magician.

" **NO!** " She cut off her host in Egyptian, before remembering she didn't understand it. "No, that shouldn't have happened. That wasn't in the orders."

"What do you mean, not in the orders?" Malik asked sharply. "So generations of my family have carved into their children's backs when they didn't have to?  **Is that what you're telling me?** "

[Guys, just calm down. Please don't-] Darcy was losing track of what everyone was saying, but she could tell it was getting heated, she did not know the story behind the carvings, or much about the Items.

" **What were the original orders?** " Malik asked, stepping closer. She was shaking her head, as if denying it would make it go away. Malik felt his anger boiling inside him at the spirit's behaviour. That was his life she was denying, she tells him it shouldn't have happened, that carving wasn't what they were told to do. It did, that's what happened.

 **\Isn't that fantastic. Daddy tortured you for nothing.\** He held his head and tried tuning it out but wanted answers from the spirit. Mana's face changed to one slightly calmer.

"She's gone into the Wristlet, I think she's in shock." Darcy said, taking over their body. She was still, but he could only guess she was preparing for a fight by her balled fists and warning tone. He already had guessed she disappeared and hid.

 **"This isn't over. I want answers.** " He growled, eyeing the Wristlet knowing the spirit would hear him. He turned back to the bathroom, knowing he was not going to get anything out of her soon. "I'm taking a shower. Don't disturb me." He slammed the door and dropped against it, blocking it. He didn't think she would come in anyway, it just felt better to block the door.

He held his head, holding it tight as he couldn't keep the flood of anger at bay. And with the anger came  ** _it._**

 **\What are you going to do now?\** He heard it whisper, he felt chills run down his spine. He knew he was going to say something, but had no way to stop him. **\Are you going to cry like the baby you are?\**

"Shut up." He said. His best comeback against it. Just tell it to go away just like when he had the bad moments.

 **\And you're going to lie to her as well.\** It said, with a low chuckle. **\The only person you can count on, and you're not telling her what actually happened.\**

 **"She doesn't need to know."**  He growled. **"She doesn't need to know anything."**

 **"She doesn't need to know that you're a raging psychopath? That you didn't just steal from that shop, you banished half of those 'Death Eaters' to the shadow realm?"** He could feel it smiling. **"And my word, what you did to the other half was an art form. You did it all without my interference. I only watched as you went berserk."**

 **"No, you're always involved. _You_  did something." **He said, he tried to block that out, everything that happened in the shop. How horrifying it would have been when some invisible creature started to pick them off, one by one as they shouted their little spells and got one lucky attack in.

 **"Denial... But I'm still so proud of you."** The voice went silent, but his words still rung in Malik's head. He rubbed his hands together; he could still feel the warm sticky blood on his fingertips. Some of the blood that was on his hands and his shirt had not been his.

**In Japan!**

**Abandon apartment. Same time.**

Yugi yawned and Yami suggested he rested, after bidding everyone goodnight and once again got Yami to promise not to kill anyone, he fell asleep in the Puzzle. Ryou followed soon after, leaving the two spirits alone with each other's company.

 **"Why have you been using Ancient Egyptian?"**  Yami asked the burning question that had been bugging him all day. Bakura had moved one of the dusty couches across the door and was laying on it. If someone tried coming in, he would be the first to feel it.

 **"Pretty much just nostalgia."**  He replied, stretching out like a cat with his arms behind his head. **"When you started using it, it only became natural."**

 **"I didn't think 'Implicated memory' included languages."** Yami has his arms crossed over his chest and looked straight up to the ceiling fan which was dormant.

 **"Want would you think? You only learned about it a few hours ago."**  Bakura scoffed. Maybe he would be too tired to comment or continue fighting. But after a pause, the Pharaoh spoke again.

 **"Akil."** The Pharaoh said. Bakura frowned.

 **"What?"** He asked, scanning his memories for that word. It was ringing some bells, but nothing defining.

 **"I heard a voice when we were fighting; I think it was a memory, a remnant of Ancient Egypt."**  Yami elaborated. **"Just a voice, yelling at me for falling down, I've concentrated on it. I _think_  he was my teacher in combat; I'm going off what you said before, though. It could be anyone."**

 **"Why would you bother telling me this? You don't trust me."** He sat up slightly to face the old king wasn't too hard to see, no one trusted him, no one that knew he was an ancient spirit anyway.

 **"We are in the same boat, as the saying goes. Both in the current situation and on the items."** The Pharaoh paused again, a tic Bakura hoped wouldn't become a habit. **"Gaining memories hurt. Is it like that for you?"**

 **"I don't dwell on the past."** Bakura huffed, hesitant to share anything with the Pharaoh.  **"But yes, when I gained most of my memories back a little before BattleCity. it felt like a hammer was smashing my brain in."**

 **"What memories?"**  He asked. Bakura could see how curious he was, so he told the truth.

 **"Death, destruction and a lot of blood."**  He answered and turned his back on the Pharaoh; he could feel him staring at the back of his head until Yami turned around himself, daring not to ask. They both wouldn't sleep for a while, one out of mistrust, the other mind reeling. After a few hours, he reached into his bag for a bottle of booze.

Pharaoh remembered something. The implications were not good. If his memories were returning after three thousand years, did that mean the seal on Zorc's prison was cracking? Eroding with time? Or was the spell unraveling? He would have laughed aloud that the spell with the great cost being beaten with time if he didn't know better about making a sound.

The Thief King didn't believe in fate. He climbed ranks on his own skill. He never came across anything he would consider divine intervention, nothing he wouldn't scoff of as a coincidence. It was a tad ironic of him. After all, wasn't it blind luck that got him to the right host, Ryou  _Bakura_? And then the move to Japan, what were the chances of them going to the same school as Yugi, the holder of the Puzzle he wanted to get his hands on? Along with the high priest's reincarnation sitting just a few seats away in the same class, Fate was laughing at him.

Maybe he really did have to change the way he looked at things. He took another sip of the bottle. It was a bad idea, drinking made him dead to the world and a lot of the guards' lucky days of catching him were always after a night at the tavern.

 **"What are you doing?** " The Pharaoh was also awake. Bakura hadn't noticed him turn over.

 **"Taking a walk through fairyland."**  He said sarcastically, he held the Bottle out.  **"Want some? I'm only offering once."**

He was sure the Pharaoh didn't know who Bakura was, maybe just a thief that got his hands on the ring and somehow got trapped inside. He didn't ask, but since the Pharaoh hadn't outright tried to kill him said volumes of his knowledge. He was sure the Ishtar's knew who he was, but again that the Pharaoh wasn't trying to kill him told him they didn't know much.

The Spirit shook his head.  **"Last time I drank something you gave me, the next twelve hours was a blur."**

At this, Bakura did laugh.  **"Next time, we'll stay for three days, see if you win more than I can steal in value."**

Next time? He wasn't seriously planning on going again, not intentionally with his royal High Ass… Was he actually considering the Pharaoh his  _friend?_

No, his plan involved getting the Pharaoh and his light to consider him not a threat,  _pretending_  to be their friend had to be done to make that work, pretending to have just been confused and out of control like the Pharaoh was. Using sympathy, empathy as his tools.

They didn't talk for the rest of the night, good. Bakura preferred it that way.

**In Britain!**

**Order of the Phoenix.**

Ishizu was sitting cross-legged in their newly assigned room, concentrating on the necklace. The children were told to leave her and Odion alone. She could feel their curiosity as they peeked into the room when they thought the Ishtar's weren't looking.

The Order had gone to their hotel and got their things, which was all packed in the corner. A 'clean up' took place, The Ishtar's after the fire withdrew the tablets and were taking a break from museums and taking a vacation. Museum members, witnesses and anyone else had their minds warped to accept this, much like how the items could manipulate people. It felt odd to have people with the power to do such feats when she had only known the items could do so for a long time. Memory replacement, ordering others, she wondered how the items would measure up against this magic.

 **"Malik is angry."**  She said after a while of meditating. Odion had been reading and sat up straighter. " **Very angry, it is fading now, but I fear for him.** "

**"Has the other Malik taken over?"**

**"No. I don't feel him at all.** " That worried her even more. It must have been staying exclusive and prodding at her brother. They had to stop that at the bud before he took over again.

"Hello?" One of the red-headed children came into the room. Ishizu had to give her points for not trying to spy like the other children. She was confident. When introducing herself. "My name is Ginny, Mum asked me to ask you-"

"We do not eat pork, and prefer vegetables." She answered before Ginny could finish, and a smile twitched on her lips as the girl nodded in acceptance. "Thank you for asking."

That would have been her queue to leave, but she stood at the door still. "If you two don't mind me asking... Do you trust the Order?" It was a simple question from the fourteen-year-old. She was young and things were simple still.

"We have a mutual agreement at this moment," Ishizu said simply. She put her arms down and opened her eyes. Ginny shared similar features of her older brother, other than the obvious hair, she had a fire to her eyes like Bill's. "To answer your question, we trust the Order to keep us alive, but to help us will be strained."

"The Order helped a lot of people when You Know Who was in power last time." She said. They refused to call this man by his chosen name. Maybe they held the belief that knowing someone's name gave them power over them, she didn't ask. "Dad was telling me that a lot of muggles and wizard families would have been killed if the Order wasn't around, they were doing the Ministries work then, too." She smiled. "They'll want to help, it's what they do."

Bill popped up next to her and stuck his head past the doorway. They didn't hear him come up the stairs, Ginny jumped and swore.

"Bless you, Ginny. Ishizu, Odion, meeting room. Severus is back and has news." Bill said. The Ishtar's made their way downstairs. Bill attempted to send his younger sister to one of the other rooms with the brown haired girl was looking out, waiting for her. She instead went down the stairs, presumably to tell her mother of the meal preferences. Half way down the stairs a sudden vision made Ishizu stumbled and needed to hold the railing, she felt Odion steady her.

" **Sister?** " he asked with concern in his voice. She motioned to her neck.

" **He's having another moment, Odion, we have to find him soon, the time between them is getting shorter.** "

"Can I guess you're talking about your brother?" The hooked nose man asked at the base of the stairs. They went inside the meeting room. Severus stopped Bill from following them by blocking the door. "This should be between the Ishtar's and I."

"Hey, I know the kid-" Bill began.

"Let him in," Ishizu said, sending a nod to Bill. Severus would have rolled his eyes but moved out of the wave.

"Born in a barn, Weasley?" he waved his wand and the door closed behind him. Bill glared at him. "To business, it concerns your brother and I might have just witnessed his handy work."

"What happened?" Odion asked, but Ishizu let a sharp inhale of breath be too loud and had them all look at her. She could see now, what exactly happened.

"First I want to know the extent of his powers," Severus said. "-Because I just walked into a  _massacre_. ' _Borgin and Burkes'_  is a known Death Eater meeting point, a dark arts shop. So it was an obvious place to search for your stolen trinkets. But I just had to help clean up after your brother's attack."

"Malik's here? In Knocturn Alley?" Bill asked. How Malik somehow got from Australia to Britain to the right place was mystifying.

"He got his hands on one of the new recruits Portkey, but back to the manner at hand." He held his fingers up for emphasize. "Three people killed in a rather brutal manner, and three more drooling vegetables. Now, does he have a habit of murdering people?"

"No, Malik is a good kid; he wouldn't just kill people Severus," Bill said, turning to the Ishtar's for backup. But they were looking at each other with worried and alarmed faces. "Ishizu... Ishizu, Odion! What has he done?" They were not acting like it was the first time they've heard of this.

"You mentioned he could attack us and that we should just run, is this why?" Severus asked. Ishizu closed her eyes before nodding.

"Yes." Bill had to sit down. The last he saw Malik he was a smiling, cheeky kid that was trying to sneak alcohol from the hotel fridge. Ishizu continued. "Malik has... Anger issues. He was recovering, we were helping him through it, but the stress of everything that's happening isn't going well with him."

"We can't risk order members going after your brother," Severus said. "I've already called off the search for him, he's too dangerous."

"We need to find him, it was in our agreement," Odion said before Ishizu could speak. "I would be out there myself if we were not under this house arrest."

"Well, Malik knows me, I could go searching for him." Bill piped up. "I'm sure he sort of likes me and won't kill me on sight."

"Take me with you then," Odion said. Ishizu touched his arm.

"Brother.  **These people can kill with a wave of a wand; you have no defenses against that.** " She reminded. Odion shook his head.

"We are on a deadline, pardon the pun, sister. I can calm him down and you know it. Do you see any danger?" She shook her head. He made his way for the door. "Then it's decided, I'm going with Mister Bill Weasley."

"You are a person of interest to the Dark Lord. If you are not outright killed by my 'comrades' you'll be tortured." Severus said. Bill was surprised to see Odion smirk. He had never seen the giant do more than a nod or follow his sister.

"Your people lack imagination, I'll be fine." The two left and disappeared when they left the front step. Ishizu could see nothing, the necklace had gone dead. She did not wish to share this, as it worried her that her brothers could be in danger at that very moment and she wouldn't know.

"I will have to tell Dumbledore about this," Severus said, snapping Ishizu out of her thoughts.

"Do not do that. Malik will have enough to deal with when we find him." She said, "This is a family matter."

**888**

No one notice or sense that they were being watched, or that the entire conversation was being listened too. Two girls in the kitchen had their ears pressed against the door, their faces horrified at the news.

" _Six?_ " Hermione mouthed. Ginny hushed her and motioned to the other door. Molly was coming back and they scurried back to pretend to be peeling potatoes. Molly shooed them off and they quickly went upstairs directly to Harry and Ron's room.

**888**

"Family matter or not, the boy has taken down six Death Eaters." He crossed the room over to the fireplace. "You understand that I am a double agent, that this incident will have that in jeopardy if I do not handle this correctly." She did understand how complicated the man's ruse was. She knew he was completely loyal to Dumbledore, but no one else did and expected him to turn on the old Headmaster like a viper. "I just had to help clean up six bodies or be killed myself. That now has me an active Death Eater, far earlier than planned. The Dark lord could call me at any moment and I will have to answer." Severus turned back to the door, having every intention to leave. "I will not hold any information back."

She could not stop him. There was no way this could stay a secret for long. Dumbledore would know how unstable her brother is and might use it against them. If these Death Eaters found out Malik was behind the deaths any chance of him escaping their radar was gone.

"Then tell the Headmaster. But I would rather not many people know about this." She took a deep breath. "Please, he's not well. He does not deserve to be locked away because of it."

Severus paused. Then turned back to her, she tried not to look so desperate.

"The disappearances will be noted, as long as the ministry does not find bodies your brother will not be held for this. But the Dark lord will be trying to find who did this."

"I realize that." She said. "He also has an item, the Rod is powerful. You couldn't just wield an item. Most can't handle it, most aren't chosen too. My brother has control over it now, but there is a possibility the Rod could reject him at any time."

"That makes him a dangerous weapon to be used." He continued. "The Dark Lord has two interests. Power and Immortality. I would not put it past him not to care about his follower's deaths if he could have your brother's power at his command." He opened the door. "I need to go now, I have a report to make."

"Thank you." She said, the information was more then she got from anyone else. The fact that Malik could still be safe was like a small weight was pulled off her shoulders.

"I did nothing." He said flatly and left. Ishizu sat at the meeting table and held her head in her hands. She was so tired, and now that the Necklace had gone dead she did not know what her next move was. Malik was out of control and they were all targets. It would have been better if she knew more.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I didn’t know how Jerkal was actually spelt as Jekyll and pronounced JAKel and I think I rendered my sister fetal because I was asking her ‘How do you spell JERKal?!’ that was bad.


	6. Three Rude Awakenings

 

**In Japan!**

**Early morning: Abandon Apartment.**

Yami was awoken by the apartment shaking violently and the Thief yelling, he had fallen of the couch and tried to steady himself up. Earthquake? No, he could feel the foreign magic seeping through the floorboards.

" _They found us!"_  Bakura yelled, he fumbled to get his deck, they scattered across the floor. He swore in something that was between Japanese and Egyptian as he tried to pick them up. Yami caught on and went for his own and grabbed the one at the top, hoping it was he needed.

" _Yes!"_  He grinned.  _"Big Shield Gardna, we need you to protect us!"_  He poured all the shadow magic he could into the summon. In a flash of light, the monster appeared. It was already kneeling like it was in defence mode near the door with Bakura who had finished gathering his cards.

They both jumped the window with their bags, a moment later Yami heard the door burst open and with a cry of pain held his chest. There was blast of coloured light coming from the window and shouts. He had to hold on the stair case bar to balance himself.

 _/They were able to destroy Big shield Gardna without another monster!/_ Yugi exclaimed, awakened by the sudden strain on their body. _/We have to be extra careful, summoning is being taken out directly from us!/_

" **Snap out of it!"**  Bakura was shaking his shoulder.

[ _What's happening?_ ] Ryou yelled, wakened also, even with the link it was hard to hear him with what seemed like the apartment exploding above them.

" _Stupefy!_ " They were on the balcony above them, one had cast a spell down. Bakura pushed Yami away from him and dodged the spell that erupted just where they had been.

" _Kuriboh!"_  It a bright flash the little fur ball appeared. It made its distinctive cooing sound.  _"Distract them! Multiply!"_  He put up the other card. Kuriboh glowed and more of them started to appear, kuriboh covered them as they climbed down, they ran for it, ducking into an alley.

" _Did you forget that Kuriboh explodes?"_ Bakura asked.

" _Something they'll find out in a second."_ Yami said. Bakura slowed down so he could thumb through his deck and picked a card. They could still hear explosions from the apartment. Kuriboh duplicates where being blasted at a pace that Yami couldn't keep up with. There was more than three this time. They were throwing as many people as they could to bring them in.

" _My turn."_  He grinned, he held the card up, Yami could feel the shadow magic pool to make the summon work. Bakura was doing a quicker and easier job then he had. _"Lady in Wight! Lead them away."_ The dress wearing skeleton seemed to nod as it drifted back to their attackers.

" _That one has no attack."_ Yami reminded, a little confused as to why Bakura would do that.

" _Yeah, But they're going to shit themselves and she's going to be hard to kill."_ Bakura replied with a grin. They both ducked into another Alley as they heard terrified screams.

[ _Keep running, get somewhere with people._ ] Ryou suggested.

[ _What if they don't care and we're putting people in danger?_ ] Yugi said. Yami was stumped on what to do.

" _Just keep running, there's a car yard that we could lose them in a few blocks away."_  Bakura said, they ran again, keeping to the shadows, the sun had risen and there were people beginning their day, keep away from people so they don't get hurt.

" _Reducto!_ " Yami felt the spell collide with his arm. He was at first shocked at how much it hurt before a scream of pain escaped his lips. Blood sprayed from gashes in his arm by what looked like invisible scissors had slashed at him, his deck slipped from his hand. He feel to his knees and struggled to get back up. It wasn't skin deep, it felt far deeper.

" _Kuso, we don't have any cover-"_  Bakura began, but interrupted as he turned and blocked a spell coming their way with the ring. It glowed on his chest and Yami could feel the gathering shadow magic for an attack. But before he could initiate a counter three Death Eaters aimed spells at him, with the force of the combined attack cut through the shadows and hit Bakura straight in the chest. Bakura stumbled and fell near him, he looked to have been having difficulty breathing as his chest heaved for air. Card's where scattered all over the place. There were five of them this time, the three that stunned Bakura were coming closer while the other two stayed back, wands ready incase something happened. No mistakes this time.

"You two are almost more trouble then you are worth." One of the Death Eaters said, pointing his wand directly at his face. Yami could feel himself fading from unconsciousness. He had to save them, somehow! He reached for one of the cards near him, preying it would help them, he could feel blood drip down his fingers as it started to go numb. He could hear the man laughing, how can a card save him? He brought it close to his face to read it as his vision blurred. They seemed to be taking their time now that they were taken down. Bakura had tried pulling a knife out but it was kicked away.

The familiar blue and pink image were like a god send. He pooled the shadows to try the summon, hoping her could do it quickly enough before the Death Eaters notices.

" **Dark Magician… Girl. Help us."** For a second, any pain he felt was gone before a bright light engulfed the entire street, then darkness.

**In Britain!**

**Leaky Cauldron, same time (late afternoon)**

Malik was awoken by an urgent shout from behind the door. He groaned and sat up. He was not in any mood to be civil to any one that crossed his path. He was only half awake and was trying to piece together what the voice was yelling. He checked his shirt to make sure the red stains were unnoticeable, last time he was wearing white ever.

He couldn't ignore it anymore when the person began banging. "Oi! Did you hear me? Your friend just fell down the stairs and she ain't moving!"

He did not expect that. Malik quickly bolted through the door, leaving a stunned house keeper behind. Coming to the top of the stairs he found out the maid wasn't lying. Darcy was laying on the ground, with a woman and Tom over her. He panicked and descended down the flight of the stairs to help.

Something was off, her eyes were half open and dull for a moment he thought she was dead. He saw the blonde haired woman hold Darcy's wrist for a pulse, she did not react of panic as if she was dead, he calmed down slightly. It didn't look like they noticed her eyes yet as they turned her on her back, he pressed her eyelids down to avoid suspicion.

There was no one home. He couldn't feel a presence in her body or the Wristlet. Where ever they had gone it hadn't left her body defenceless, a thin layer of shadow magic remained as a bubble. He recognized that it was similar to the constant shield around Yugi. Malik frowned. How could both Darcy AND Mana leave the body at the same time? And where did they go if they weren't in the wristlet?

"She's alright, she might be concussed though." The woman said. "She needs to wake up in the next few minutes."

"Never the less we should take her to St Mungo's-" The Bartender begun. It had to be a hospital. They couldn't go anywhere else, going to a hospital would attract attention as they had no medical records with them, or any identification. And wouldn't a terrorist organization have people stationed everywhere? That's what he did at any rate with the Rare Hunters.

"No!" Malik snapped, his voice harsher than he meant to be. The two adults looked at him oddly. "This is normal, she has fits, medical condition. She just knocked herself out falling down the stairs, it happens sometimes. When she wakes up she'll take her medication and be alright." He lied. The Bartender looked confused and the woman frowned in suspicion. "Let me put her in our room."

"I'll help." The woman said. Before he could protest she had picked up Darcy's by no means small body in her arms and carried her upstairs. He opened the door and she placed his friend's body on her bed.

"Thanks." He said, he hoped she left quickly, she stood in the hall still.

"I'll be across the hall if you need any help, tell me when she wakes up." She said, pointing to her door. "Narcolepsy the poor girl, wouldn't have thought it, hey?"

"Yeah, it's such a common disorder." He said, shutting the door, he paused so he could hear her walk away. He turned to the empty body and back to the matter at hand. Where had she gone? The Shadow realm? If so, not willingly as she wouldn't take a trip while her body would have come to harm. So she was unwillingly taken…

 **\Has it dawned to you yet, Weakling?\**  He heard the familiar whisper, gleeful at his confusion.  **\She's been summoned! The ever lovely Magician Mana has been summoned by a shadow wielder as Dark Magician Girl.\**

He would have tried blocking it, but it seemed to know more them he did, which would be impossible, since he was made from him. He could risk talking to it. Just long enough to find out what's going on.

" **Why Darcy as well?"**  He asked. He could nearly see that it was shaking it's head in disappointment.

 **\Fool, have you forgotten the teachings?\** It asked, mocking him. Malik thought back to every scroll he had read and memorized.

" **Ka. Obviously, it has been drilled into my skull and there is no way I will forget it."**  And it knew that and only wanted to bring it up. Malik clapped his hands in triumph when it clicked. **"Of course! They make up two halves of a whole essence, dark and light sides of the soul. It would make sense that they are both needed for Dark Magician girl to be summoned."**

 **\Think of what that means.\** The voice prodded. Malik knew not to trust it, but followed it's advice.

" **It means… that there is a shadow magic fight going on somewhere. Someone is actually using the shadows out of a shadow game in combat. That hasn't happened since Ancient times though!"** The last known written battle had been between Seth and the nameless Pharaoh.

 **\Good. Now, who do we know that uses shadow magic and has a Dark Magician Girl card?\**  It asked. Malik could have kicked himself for not realizing that sooner.

" **So the Pharaoh is in danger."** He said.  **"And the girls are with him."** He frowned. Something didn't add up. **"Why are you helping me?"**

 **\For you to talk to me. Obviously.\** Malik felt like he had just been trapped and had walked into it. **\You see, it gets boring all by me lonesome. And you've been trying to ignore me, key word on tried though.\**

" **Get used to it. You're going back in your dark little corner."**  Malik said calmly. No more anger, anger only makes it talk more.

**\You need me and you know it.\**

" **I don't. Shut up."**  He took a seat on his bed and picked up one of the wizard spell books and flicked through the pages, he could do a bit of reading take his mind of the voice. He did not know how long he had to wait for her to wake up and find out what happened.

**In Japan!**

**Duelist Kingdom, two hours later.**

Yugi woke up in a foreign bed and instantly recognized it as the room he had in Pegasus's castle. His arm was bandaged and was hurting, but nothing else was injured. His first instinct was to look for the Puzzle, which hung on the bed post. He reached out into the Puzzle and found Yami sleeping soundly in his soul room. He usually didn't sleep, and knew for a fact the Pharaoh didn't have regular sleeping cycles and must have exhausted himself in the fight. Yugi still felt tired, but went back to the matter at hand.

As much as he was relieved that the Pharaoh was alright he was still somehow at Pegasus's castle, miles and miles away from where he had been. Looking at the clock, it was only a few hours after the attack that morning. Even if Pegasus loaded them on a plane and flew them, the trip would have taken much longer.

Reminded that he was not alone in this mess, Yugi turned his attention to what he thought was an empty room. Bakura was sitting in one of the couches and shuffling through his deck. Except it wasn't the Spirit, but Ryou. They both did not notice each other until Yugi moved.

" _Hey, sleep better?"_ He asked, Yugi sat up. Ryou seemed alright, but his chest was bandaged and the first three buttons on his shirt were undone.

" _What happened?"_ Yugi asked.

" _We got our butts thrashed. Bakura took a few spells to the chest, which are bruising quiet badly by the way, and you nearly needed an arm repayment."_

Alarmed, Yugi looked down on his arm. Bandaged yes, he was afraid to undo them and see the damage. He lost blood, and he swore the damage was worse than this, muscle should have been damaged, hell, his fingers hand been twitching without his consent. His arm had been ripped into, but it only felt like it was bruised. Pegasus would have good doctors on beck and call, but this was ridiculous.

" _One of Pegasus's men fixed you up while you were out of it. Bakura wouldn't let the man touch me._ " He added. He breathed in deeply.  _"Wish he did, this hurts."_

" _So, Pegasus saved us?_ " Yugi asked.  _"I remember being surrounded and the Pharaoh was trying to summon, how did Pegasus get us out?"_  He started patting his pockets for his deck out of a habit when he knew they had been scattered. Ryou pointed to the table next to him, his deck was in a neat pile. He flipped through them, a little sick at the flecks of blood on them.

" _You wouldn't believe it."_  Ryou said, sitting on the end of the bed. " _Pharaoh managed to summoned Dark Magician Girl and from there it gets a little blurry._ " He continued, sounding excited. " _But I remember she appeared, and she looked confused before she started blasting them. After they retreated she turned to us and said 'I found you.' In Ancient Egyptian, Bakura was absolutely stunned. She disappeared when Pegasus's men came. Bakura blacked out as well but we woke up awhile ago."_

" _Dark Magician Girl talked?"_ Yugi confirmed, Ryou nodded. Yugi pulled out the card with the said girl on it, he could see a bloodied finger print on it over the description. He didn't know what he was looking for, maybe she changed on the card somehow. It was still the same.

" _Bakura says some duel monsters are intelligent."_  Ryou shrugged. _"He's asleep as well, but Pegasus had me promise that he was not allowed out while we are in his care or he'll get annoyed."_

" _Right, the whole ripped out eye thing."_ Yugi grimaced, Ryou had his guilty face on again.

" _We're waiting for Kaiba to arrive."_  He continued, Pegasus doesn't want to repeat the stroy and answer the same questions.

" _Kaiba is coming?"_

" _I know, I had the same reaction. Pegasus is pleased though."_  Ryou added. " _Kaiba is changing, did you notice?_ "

" _Yeah, he didn't even rage about magic like he always does."_  Yugi said, thinking back to when they called him. Maybe Yami sounded mad enough to be taken seriously.

They heard something fly above them, the distinctive engines of the white dragon jet.

" _That will be Kaiba. We should go to the dining hall now._ " Ryou said, Yugi put his cards in their hoist and pulled his shoes on. He faintly remembered where the dining hall was, and was glad that Ryou was leading.

**In Japan!**

**Kaiba mansion, two hours after the fight.**

Seto Kaiba was not in a good mood. Well, to be fair, he was rarely in a good mood as it appeared. But today he was scowling more than usual. It might have had something to do with having six people he usually avoided in his mansion living room. They had refused to go into guest rooms and had camped together. Thankfully, Mokuba was happy to treat it as a sleep over and kept them all occupied.

The rather large down side was how much they were pestering him until Kaiba had skilfully disappeared to his office, trying to find a lead on where Yugi and Bakura had gone. A few hours ago there was an apartment fire. Some fireworks had gone off, but a few witnesses would swear they saw duel monsters. This was the best he had. No duel disk had been activated, and any ancient duel stadium was miles away from the apartment.

" _Kaiba boy!_ " A screen suddenly popped up on his desktop.

 _Oh God._  Kaiba grimaced. The annoying smiling face made him scowl in response.  _"Did you just hack my webcam? That's illegal and can have you jailed._ " he growled. Pegasus took it as a friendly greeting.

" _Maybe…_ " came the sing song voice.  _"Before you push the panic button I know you have your finger on, I have news on Yugi boy and Ryou Bakura."_

" _And what will that be?"_ Kaiba said, still having his finger on the panic button. Usually he shorted these things out himself. Unless it was a fan girl, that was more panic button worthy.

" _Oh, just that I've rescued them from a fate that makes a shadow game kind."_ Pegasus replied offhandedly.  _"I can inform you on the situation, but you have to come to my island."_

Kaiba crossed his arms and leaned back on his chair, panic button forgotten. It was just another game Pegasus was playing.  _"Please, this is an obvious trap. Put Motou on the phone."_

Pegasus tsked.  _"Afraid he and Bakura are out for the count and seem to be staying like that for quite a while."_ Pegasus then grinned. _"You know where I live, come visit me sometime today, because when they wake up we have to discuss this attack on them and I rather not explain the story twice."_

" _You know who attacked them?"_  Kaiba was feeling his patience slip.

" _I rather talk face to face. Ta ta Kaiba boy! See you soon!"_ The small box disappeared and Kaiba tried re-establishing the link but failed. He pinched the bridge of his nose and quietly counted to 10. When he was done he snapped into action.

" _Anderson! Get the Jet ready."_  He ordered over the intercom.  _"I want to be ready to fly immediately._ "

He reached for the gun in the bottom draw, but found it missing, alarmed that he misplaced it, or god forbid Mokuba got his hands on it he nearly tossed his desk in a panic. Seto Kaiba did not panic. After a moment he found it in his titanium briefcase. He frowned. He did not remember moving it. Deciding he had bigger things to worry about, he packed his duel disk and laptop and made his way down stairs.

" _Where are you going, Big brother?_ " Mokuba asked, he must have heard him over the intercom, the rest of the Scooby gang where watching him come into the giant living room which had been transformed into a campsite with sheets tied up all over the place. They were so childish, but Mokuba was happy. They had watched a few movies, ordered pizza before crashing. Mokuba wanted for nothing. But something as simple as a sleep over was something Seto couldn't give him.

" _Following a lead on who attacked Mutou and Bakura."_  Kaiba replied, clipped his brief case shut, he had everything he needed.  _"Unfortunately it involves a conference with Pegasus."_  If he was a lesser man, he would have shuddered in resentment. He did not enjoy going to the island.

" _You found a lead?"_  Joey said, standing up.  _"I'm coming."_

" _Sit and stay, Mutt. I'm going alone."_  Kaiba said in his and-that-is-final tone, Joey went red but managed not to pick a fight, his sister being so close might have been a factor. There was only two seats in the jet anyway, and the other one was fitted to an eight year old. He checked his watch. "I'll be back in a few hours. Don't burn down my house while I'm gone or I will be extremely irked. And you," He glared at the dice gamer, who tried to look innocent. "If you even try to rent another movie that is above teen rating and Mokuba gets nightmares, I will personally throw you out of a window and say you tripped."

"Is that your idea of flirting?" Duke grinned. Kaiba ignored the American, wondering if it was actually a nationality trait. He was also well aware of the bet between Joey and Duke that was along the lines of 'Get Kaiba mad'.

It only took ten minutes for him to leave for the island. He had a head ache, a rather odd one. He didn't want to take any medication before flying, so he would have to live with it. He was in the air and he was almost like a missile. The Jet was built for speed as well and appearance. Agility, not so much when you're going hundreds of miles an hour.

\Find Yugi Mutou and Ryou Bakura.\

His eye twitched slightly. Something felt wrong. He rarely went of instinct, but this time he felt inclined to. He put the Jet on Auto pilot, he hated to do it, what use was a custom jet if you didn't fly it? He leaned back and closed his eyes.

He thought back to the last couple of hours, to yesterday. Mutou called him using his duelling voice. He might have been demanding, but he could hear the how terrified he was. Mutou being terrified and talking to Bakura without being so hostile were bad signs. Those two working together? Bad, Bad sign.

\Find Yugi Mutou and Ryou Bakura.\

"I'm doing that-" he rubbed his temple, the head ache was pounding like a drum.

"Mister Kaiba?" He heard his assistants voice over the com.

"I'm fine Anderson." He realized he said that in English. He wondered why Anderson switched to his native tongue, maybe because he himself had done so. He wondered why he was actually thinking it English as well; he didn't do that unless he was on a long business trip in America.

Something was wrong. He touched down and was greeted at the landing bay by two of Pegasus's body guards.

" _Greeting Mister Kaiba."_ He heard one of the lackeys talking, but it barely registered as his headache got worst. _"Pegasus, Yugi Mutou and Ryou Bakura are waiting in the dining hall."_

\Good. Next step is to keep them there.\ He paused. That wasn't his thoughts, he did not think in a British accent for one. He stopped walking and nearly dropped his case. \Stop resisting Seto, only a few more minutes-\

" _Get out!_ " He growled. That set alarm bells off. He did not call himself Seto, not even in his own head. He felt panic that wasn't his as the voice was cut off.

He must be drugged, that was the only explanation, how dazed he felt for the last day. Something flashed before his eyes. His computer screen, he just sat down and started to drink his coffee. The door closed with a snap and he looked up. A man in a black cloak stood behind the shadow of the door. He remembered he went for the gun in the bottom draw, not taking his eyes of the intruder.

The man raised his arm and god-forbid he pointed a stick at his face like it was a wand.

"Hello muggle, you're going to be rather useful to us.  _Imperio!_ "

He felt his mind go blank as a veil lifted from his mind. Against his will he put the gun away in the wrong place. He ignored Yugi's Magic claims while asking where he was. Angry replaced any emotion he felt. The only explanation he could think of was Pegasus and the Scooby gang where all in one raising his blood pressure and drugging him senseless. That made sense, they've done it before.

He began walking quickly to the dining hall with the lackeys following him. They looked weak, it would be easy to dispatch of them before he got to Pegasus. He pushed open the doors and saw Pegasus sitting at the end of the large dining table drinking wine.

"Pegasus I'm going to-" His next rather violent words could not leave his mouth as a massive head ache caught him of guard. He dropped the briefcase on the table far louder then he appreciated, a tiny part of him hoped he scratched the mahogany table as accidental vandalism.

"Kaiba boy?" Pegasus asked, frowning slightly at his behaviour. Kaiba tried composing himself.

"You drugged me." He seethed, banging his fist on the table. "I couldn't prove it to take legal action but now that I'm going as schizophrenic as Mutou and Bakura-"

"You're hearing voices?" Pegasus asked sharply.

"One voice, if you must know." He answered wearily.

"What did it say? What did it tell you?" Pegasus asked.

"Does it matter?" he snapped. The game maker's frown deepened.

"Yes! I brought you here to talk to you about what's happening." He sighed and rested his head back. "A war is starting in Britain." He said in a weary voice.

"I would have known about it." Kaiba said. Even if it had not reached the news, he would have heard from someone that thought they could pay him to make weapons. It had happened far too many times for him to appreciate.

"No, a magic war." Pegasus saw the face Kaiba made. "What proof would you like? Literally anything that crosses your mind."

"You'll have this room ridged to do anything." He predicted. He wouldn't put it past the game maker to do so. Pegasus pulled out a stick not so different from the stick that was pointed at him before.

"Fine." Pegasus said, pointed at Kaiba's briefcase and with a flick of the wand it exploded open. He caught the laptop as it seemed to have learnt how to bounce, but the gun some paperwork and the duel disk feel out over the desk. He winced at the clatter, and couldn't count the odds of the gun managing to slide across to the middle of the table in plain view.

"Carrying a gun? I'm not sure you have a licence for that." Pegasus tisked. He waved the wand and the gun began to float, Kaiba made an involuntary jerk, less to the fact that it was floating, more to the fact that it was a floating  _loaded_  gun.

"Safety requirements Pegasus, it would be a shame if you accidently shot yourself." It was nearly an open secret that Kaiba was packing heat, he's had to pull it several times before. Before his eyes the clip was pulled out of the gun and the safety back pulled back. So now his only concern was a floating disarmed gun. The clip and the gun gently floated and landed on Kaiba's side of the table. He forced himself to leave it alone, Pegasus would love to see him try and figure out how he did it. The thought of him using magnets crossed his mind but realised in the next thought it would have been impossible. If using magnets was impossible, what was happening?

"'Guns beat wand, kids you run.'" Pegasus said, taking a sip of his wine. Kaiba abandoned his thoughts for the moment.

"What?" he said it the flattest tone he had.

"American Magic schools teach first graders to run from gun fights because bullets can pop through any shield charm." He explained. "The tight gun laws in Britain made this lesson moot, even the adult wizards have never seen a gun in their life and wouldn't know what to do when they saw one."

This was nonsense, all of it nonsense. He was back to his original theory of being drugged with a hallucinatory.

"... What the hell are you  _smoking_  and how was I spiked, was it my coffee?" Kaiba exploded. All this crazy happened after he drank his coffee the day before.

"Is Kaiba loosing it?" Ryou asked. He and Mutou came into the dining hall from the opposite entrance. They look like they had been in a fight and were bandaged up. Now he knew the both of them were up and walking he could concentrate of plotting their murder.

"I'm going to kill the both of you and no one will find the bodies." He said bluntly. They didn't even flinch. He was not pleased with this, he clearly had to figure out some better threats.

" _Sounds threatening, he's alright."_  Yugi smiled, not understanding a word Seto said. Pegasus smiled as well as an idea formed in his mind.

"Okay, Yugi boy does not know English, so you want more proof? Here." Pegasus pointed his wand at Yugi and before the boy could squeak uttered a spell. " _Speak!_ "

"Don't scare me like that!" Yugi said when nothing happened to him, then realized what was wrong. "That's English, this is English! I'm thinking in English! My accent is weird." Ryou made an amused face and tried not to laugh at Yugi's reaction.

[Pegasus has a wand.] Bakura stated, not taking his eyes of the stick in Pegasus's hand. [he didn't have one last time I tossed the place.]

"So you're a magic user." Yugi said while sitting down, Ryou followed his example. Seto was hesitant, but sat down as well. He felt under the table for any wires as a second nature. "For some reason I'm not surprised, how long?"

"Correct term is wizard, or witch if you're female." He put the wand down and picked up the glass. "My official biography has me in boarding school abroad for seven years. While that is correct it is safe to say it was not a normal school. My grandfather got me into a British magic school, said it was the best of the best and I deserved no less." There was a short pause. "After Cecilia died I snapped my wand and didn't look back and looked for an alternate way to bring her back, as their magic had no way to do so. After I had my eye taken out…" His one good eye darted over to Ryou who grinned weakly. "I got a new wand, got back into the magic world. Most of my staff are wizards." He indicated to the two bodyguards behind Kaiba, they didn't say anything. They looked normal, how did he expect them to look different, anyway?

"I've been drugged, I'm hallucinating all this crap-" Kaiba managed to say. Yugi suspected he was in shock, somehow. If Seto Kaiba got shocked, which he didn't.

"Jesus Christ, Kaiba!" Ryou snarled, losing his temper. If he an ordinary person, Kaiba would have been alarmed at the mood swing. It was apparent it was the other personality speaking. "We can argue all day about this, and you'll still be blind. So let's make this clear, magic or not, we were attacked, you could be next along with your brother."

"We had a deal." Pegasus said with an annoyed tone. Bakura threw him an obscene hand gesture.

"We're not sitting through two hours of convincing Seto freaking Kaiba that people waving wands are out to get him. Can we  _please_  skip that?"

"Other Bakura." Kaiba said. Just as clarification. As Mutou had the 'Pharaoh' Ryou Bakura had the 'Thief' which made his head spin.

"Correct! Finally grasping the whole spirit thing?" Bakura mocked, Kaiba ignored him and looked to Yugi instead.

"Where is other Mutou, then?" He asked. Out of everyone here, he would rather talk to the 'Pharaoh spirit' because he made sense some of the time.

"He's asleep, it's regular Yugi at the moment," Yugi answered meekly. "He really tired himself out in the last fight."

"Great." He said, leaning back on his chair, He might as well get it over with. "Lay on the new crazy story, it's not like I have any plans with my life."

Pegasus nodded, not wanting to be a terrible host he waved the wand again. Three maids came in with trays of food. Bakura retreated out of the body and let Ryou take control, but he stood close. Yugi and Ryou both realized that they were both starving when the plates were placed in front of them. They had not eaten since midday the day before, adding to the energy they lost from the summoning they dug into the food. Kaiba didn't touch his.

"So here it is. There is a whole magic community spread across the world, but utterly secret from normal people, who they call 'muggles'. Britain is in a crisis at the moment, a magic civil war is about to erupt between two sides, a man that was thought to be dead is back with the notion of killing of muggles and anyone with their blood, a pureblood supremacist. He's already infiltrated the British magical ministry. Not many people believe he is back, there is one witness and the Government is trying to discredit him, poor boy." He took a sip from his glass.

"Why?" Yugi asked. "If this man is back, why aren't they doing anything about it?"

"Corruption, correct?" Kaiba guessed. Pegasus nodded.

"Yes and no. The government refuses to believe that after 14 years of peace something is threatening them, close minded fools. Making it easier for the Death Eaters to do their job to work their way into the woodwork."

"Death Eaters?" Kaiba asked flatly. It sounded like the name of a duel monster card. A low levelled duel monster card.

"Black robes, sometimes skull masks." Pegasus described. "A great many were sent to prison, but a few claimed they were under mind control and were let off. Fools."

[All of them assholes.] Bakura added, Ryou nearly choked on his soup at the comment. Yugi gave him a pat on the back to help clear his throat.

[That's rich coming from you.]

"One was in my house." Kaiba said, bringing their attention back on him. He was sitting a little straighter.

"One was in...? You didn't think this was important?" Yugi asked. "Our friends are at your house!"

"Clarke, send reinforcements to the Kaiba mansion." Pegasus said, one of the bodyguards left behind Kaiba, talking into a communicating device. Kaiba didn't argue. Pegasus mentioned gun's beating shield charms, but his security wasn't going to go well up against what they aren't trained for.

"What does  _Imperio_  mean? _"_ He asked. The man called him a muggle, so some part of Pegasus's words had to ring true.

Pegasus took a sharp breath in and returned his attention to his wind glass, which was almost empty. _"_ It's a forbidden spell, using it and getting caught can get you sent to Prison. Designed to influence and control a different person, as many people claimed they were under when the last war ended. _"_  He looked back at Kaiba. _"_ You threw it off, not many untrained wizards can. Was that was why you were acting strange before? _"_

"Obviously the Priest will be good at throwing of mind spells." Bakura scoffed out loud. Ryou squeaked at the momentary and small possession. Taking control off his mouth was a favourite past time of the thief when he got bored along with his hand, he had thrown many unintended punches at people that really should be punched.

"Not this reincarnation crap again." Seto said, rubbing his temple. "One more word and I swear I will get hurt."

"Okay, you're getting your head around magic, but not reincarnation?" Bakura fully took over and had a thick layer of mockery in his voice. Seto shot him the darkest glare he could muster, but it did not faze the thief. He smirked and leaned back in his chair. "Try and kill me, I'm begging you. Any reason to summon a Man-Eater Bug, really."

"Cut it out you two." Yugi said sternly. Bakura backed off, only because he did not get a raise from Kaiba. Kaiba turned to Yugi.

"You have MPD. They have pills for that and you should invest into them, but Bakura might just be psychopath." Bakura just rolled his eyes. He chose wisely to move on before another argument broke out. "This Organization broke into my house, put a 'mind spell' on me. Why if they are in Britain, are they here?"

"We think they were after the items." Yugi said.

"Of course. Someone else is after the magical Egyptian items." Kaiba said dryly. He figured the water was safe to drink, even if it was drugged, it would make things far easier to deal with.

"Possibly more than that." Pegasus said. "International news; after a museum fire that is a suspected terrorist attack in Australia, the Ishtar's withdrew everything and have disappeared."

"So Malik has already been attacked." Bakura muttered. "When was this?"

"With the time zones it would have been around the same time you were first attacked." Pegasus shook his head at the unasked question. He no longer had the eye, but could still read people well and Bakura looked concerned for once. "There is no trace of them, their things are missing from their hotel, but they had not gone back, no airplane tickets, it's like they dropped off the face of the earth."

"So they've been captured?" Yugi asked, worried. The Ishtar's were tomb keepers and their duty to help the Pharaoh but never the less shouldn't be dragged into this world, more friends in danger that was on him.

"No." Pegasus said, "While the government is ignorant of the coming war, a selected group are not. Like the Death Eaters they are rooted everywhere, teachers, law officials, police officers. Their leader is trying to convince the rest of the community that Voldemort is back but is getting as much bad press and their rag of a paper could print."

"Voldemort?" Kaiba snorted before he could compose himself, he raised an amused eyebrow. "Really, their leader's name is Voldemort?" He rolled his eyes, how can someone be a threat with a name like that?

"We're not sure if he is a man anymore," Pegasus said. "But I am very sure that the Order picked up the Ishtar's, they will be safe."

"You said 'we.'" Yugi pointed out.

"A few contacts and I. I still keep in touch." He said with no further comment on the matter, Kaiba was running down all of Pegasus's business partners to see if one of them could be a contact. He had some dealing in Britain, but on a smaller scale them America and Japan. He was monitoring Pegasus's dealing. He seemed to be making a push to try and introduce duel monsters. It would be an excellent cover, the game shops are spy centres.

"These contacts, they tell you everything?" Kaiba asked. Pegasus turned to him with a hard to read expression.

"I have not gone back to the British magical community since Cecilia died." He said. "So yes, my contacts tell me everything. I rather remain neutral in the affair and I'm not setting foot in Britain for nothing less than the Queen asking me for afternoon tea and biscuits." The last bit sounded mildly sarcastic.

"Do you feel that?" Yugi asked suddenly. "My skin feels funny." The hair on his arms had risen and it tingled. He wasn't cold, but he had an uncomfortable feeling.

Seto straightened up, obviously feeling it as well. "What is that?"

Pegasus rubbed his eyes, knowing full well what it was.

"Someone is trying to get through the protective barriers." He stood up. "Our meeting is over and you need to be taken to safety." He motioned to Kaiba. "Your house is being guarded, but it will be much better for your brother and the rest if you are not their Kaiba. Now understand that these people do not care for the others as they are not in their interest they are just muggles, but if they stay in their sights long enough they will do horrible things too them. You rather not your brother tortured, don't you?"

He felt that Pegasus had no right mentioning his brother, but he had a point. It was safer to be away from them to keep them out of the line of fire. If one targeted Mutou, you targeted Kaiba on principal and vise versa. He honestly hated being dragged into Mutots insanity, but Kaiba got Mutou involved in his affairs also, thinking back the their many American trips.

"Mr Pegasus-" Clarke came back with a warning tone. Pegasus waved his hand in a dismissive fashion.

"I know, we're under attack." He said in a bored tone. "Order an evacuation and the both of you get on the shields."

"Evacuate to where?" Yugi asked as the two bodyguards left.

"Britain." Pegasus said simply.

"That's half way across the world." Kaiba reminded.

"Magic Kaiba, you'll get the hang of it soon enough." He winked. Pegasus moved and motioned them to follow him. They did so cautionly. He didn't go far, only a short stroll to the left fireplace. He waved his wand and a fire started from nothing. There was a box on the ledge, he opened it and took a hand full of what appeared to be ash and threw it on the fire. Yugi made a small squeak as he threw it into the fire. At that moment, he had thought they had been dead person ashes. "Leaky cauldron!" The fire cracked and the flames went green. "It's a public wizard pub, you should be safe there until I send someone to come for you." He stepped out of the way. "Just walk into it, you'll be fine."

"What?" Yugi asked loudly. It looks like a fire, it feels like a fire, it sounds like a fire it's probably a fire or a very closely related firework.

"I am not stepping into the fireplace-" Set said, taking a step back, or tried to.

"Move it, Priest!" Bakura kicked Seto in. Even in this circumstances, it was hilarious to see Seto fall over with a horrified look on his face. He was gone in a moment and the fire cackled like nothing happened.

"They've broken through the shields already," Yugi said, feeling a chill on his back.

"Thank you for that," Pegasus said, turning to Bakura. "Get out of my castle."

"I already took the silverware." Bakura confessed, seeing it was safe and Kaiba didn't burn up, he jumped in and disappeared in a whirlwind of fire before Pegasus could say anything. Yugi tried to muster up the courage to jump in as well. It was fire, the others did it, and he could too. Pegasus put a hand on his shoulder to stop him for a moment.

"Here, you'll need this." Pegasus handed him an iron key, delicate looking, but heavy. "Just go to the bank and get what you need then book a room for the night at the bank, if you hurry you'll get them before closing. Good luck and hopefully we meet again."

He gave Yugi a light push. Yugi did not like how it sounded like a permanent farewell. Yugi jumped through the fire, the flames tickled him slightly and her felt his stomach turn at the unpleasant sensation that he imagined being stuck going down a drain felt like. He felt himself falling, almost propelled out into the open.

**Order Headquarters**

Ishizu opened her eyes. They sudden burst of magic was enough to start a headache. The Necklace was still on the fizz, so it was not because of that. Maybe being in contact with the items gave you some power. She didn't ponder over it long and stood up at the dinner table. Most of the Weasley's where still here, Sirius Black along with Tonks (as she found she preferred) and Remus, two other children name Hermione Granger and Harry Potter where there. Her brother and Bill were not back yet.

"I feel them." She said, if she didn't have their attention before, she had it now. "Yugi, Ryou and Seto Kaiba, they are no longer at Pegasus's castle, they are close."

"Where?" Sirius asked. She put her hands up to the Necklace to try and kick start it. She was able to find something. She looked around in the vision and described the place.

"I see barrels, and a fire place. There is a man with a few of his front teeth missing, white hair-"

"That's Tom, they're at the Leaky Cauldron." Arthur got up after wiping his face of the meal. "I'll contact some members to go fetch them." He and Tonk's left quickly. Molly began to fret and distract the children from the current events.

But they were smart, and they had an idea of what was going on. She could understand why they were being sheltered, and people seeking answers went to extreme lengths to get them. She could She Hermione frowning slightly and the youngest boys looking bewildered at each other. In a flash she could see the girl’s scepticism, and almost a hate for a subject called Divination.

"Is that enough proof for you Miss Granger that my talent is real?" She said as she sat down. She had a small smile when the brown haired girl's eyes went wide. The girl might stop calling her a fraud now. The necklace was working, but for how long she didn't know. The brighter news was that the Japanese bearers and Kaiba was alright and still alive. She hoped that Odion would find their brother soon, their youngest brother would not last long without either of them.

**Leaky Cauldron**

Yugi stumbled out of the fireplace, nearly pushing Bakura down in front of him. They were in a dim room, the window outside told him it was turning dark when it was clearly mid-day last time he checked. Convinced he had been teleported and after checking his body to see if anything was damaged he moved out of the fire place. The Green fire died and not even smoke remained.

"That was fun!" Bakura said brightly. He stepped over Seto, who was lying on the floor like no one's business. The current events must be getting to him, as he had the blank expression he usually used when he did not understand something. Yugi found it best to leave him alone for the moment.

"I'm going to kill you, Bakura." Seto said from the floor. "When the ceiling stops spinning, I will strangle you."

"At least you still don't think you're on an acid trip." Bakura grinned.

"I still could be." He said, only with a less convincing tone.

"The bloody-" someone was swearing as they turned the corner. They appeared to be a cellar like room with barrels around them. Bakura made a motion for his knife, but Ryou stopped him from outright attacking the man.

"Yeah, we're in Britain." Bakura, no, Ryou said, they switched again. "Smells like Britain, well, smells like Britain and beer." He eyed the barrels. Pegasus did say he was sending them to a pub. The man passed them and ignored Kaiba on the ground.

"Damn it I thought this Fireplace was disconnected and had been fixed not spit people out!" He tapped the side of the fireplace with a wand. "Sorry kids, this fire place it a little temperamental." He turned to look at the new people, who he realized where teenagers, probably. The youngest had such wield hair he grew curious as to where they came from. "Who are you?"

"Just travellers!" Yugi pipped up, smiling. Seto raised an eyebrow. "Do you know where a bank is?"

"It just closed," he looked at his watch. Yugi faltered.

"Kuso." He muttered. "You don't take card by any chance?"

"You're the second person to ask me that today." Tom frowned he sighed. "Clearly you are having trouble, I will let you stay the night but in the morning you're paying for your rooms."

"Thank you very much." Yugi said, giving a bow. Tom was confused at this pleasure. Clearly foreigners.

"Come with me." He motioned, and they walked out into a less dusty room that looked to be the front room. They were immediately recognized by a familiar face.

"Yugi? Bakura? Kaiba?" Malik asked, bewildered, especially at the last person. "My gods is that actually you?" he turned to the bartender. "They're with us Tom, sorry we forgot they were coming. Can I get another room please?"

Tom waved his wand and the dust was gone. "Two a room, Namu."

"I call the single one then." Kaiba said, raising his hand slightly.

"Names?" Tom asked.

"We call this one Spike." Bakura motioned to Yugi, who made a face at him. "I'm Peter Parker, this is-"

"Seth Mishan." Kaiba said before he could call him something ridiculous. Bakura grinned stupidly at him.

[Kaiba used his past self name, guys, I think he's caving!] Bakura sent out through the mind link.

[Peter Parker? Seriously, Thief? Even I know that one.] Malik said.

[I honestly wanted to see if he got the reference.]

[You could have said Tony Stark.] Yugi said.

[Kaiba was going to be Tony Stark, he's rich enough.]

[But that was risky.] Ryou said, suspiciously. [You don't do risky.]

"Rebel!" he said out loud and he and Malik high fived. Kaiba lightly pressed his hand against his face in annoyance of the two.

"8 gallons and 4 sickles plus breakfast," Tom said, adding the price up.

"Thanks Tom." Malik fished out a red bag and pulled an impossible number of coins out. Another taste of magic. "Four Butterbeers as well, Tom, they should try this stuff." Kaiba took the bag of him after he played for the drinks. Malik was surprised, but annoyed. "Jeeze Kaiba, no snatching."

Kaiba ignored him and stuck his hand inside and felt nothing until he had his entire arm inside. It was like sticking your hand into a hole. He felt his fingers touch the bottom and a coin. He took his arm out and repeated the experiment to find out how it was doing that. Malik was too amused to get the bag back.

They sat down in a corner away from people. There were several books on the table already with a lit candle. By the looks of it Mailk had been making notes in the books with a pen.

"M- Namu? What are you doing here?" Yugi asked. Malik had gone to the trouble of using a fake name, so they might as well stick with it.

"Got teleported, same question?" He countered, closing the book he had open. Kaiba looked at them more carefully and opened one labelled  _Charms, grade 5._  The detail was amazing.

"Same thing, just with fire," Bakura answered. "Do you know what's happening?"

"Like I know, I was attacked in Australia by people in hoods called Death Eaters."

" _We are supposed to be hiding, don't blurt something out like that,"_  Seto growled softly in Japanese.

" _There was an ambushed at our home yesterday; we've been high tailed since."_  Bakura explained, switching as well, there was a low chance anyone is the room could understand them. _"We all just came from Pegasus's place."_

"Guys, I can't understand a word you're saying." Yugi pointed out. Bewildered he couldn't understand his native tongue no matter how hard he was trying.

"Pegasus can make you speak in a language you barely understand fluently, but you've forgotten Japanese?" Kaiba shook his head. "Magic is stupid."

[No longer denying magic exists, so he's insulting it. That is a very Seto Kaiba thing to do.] Yami muttered, appearing behind Yugi and leaning on the chair. He still looked tired, and sounded weary.

[You're awake!] Yugi said in delight.

[Finally.] Bakura muttered. [You shouldn't have exerted yourself like that.]

[He did save our hinds, be nice.] Bakura rolled his eyes and said nothing. Ryou appeared and stood behind Bakura.

[DMG did.]

[What's happened? Why are Malik and Seto here? When did we learn English?] Yami asked, more confused than anyone at that moment. Yugi started to silently inform the Pharaoh what happened since the morning while the rest updated each other. It took almost half an hour to get everyone up to speed. They had ordered several more drinks after finishing the first. It was close to Dinner time and people were coming down to eat and the tables being rearanged to accomidate more people.

" _We've been here since this morning, and we haven't been found yet."_ Malik answered. "We're good here."

"This is bullshit, stick with English and just opt out words, I'm getting a headache." Bakura growled. Yami and Yugi switched and Yugi took a place next to Ryou as a spirit.

"Is your family with you?" Yami asked Malik, he looked confused for a moment.

"What? No. I haven't seen my siblings since I left the museum. I don't know where they are."

"Pegasus thinks they were picked up by the  _Order._ " Bakura said, taking another big drink from the bottle of Butterbeer.

"What's that?" Malik asked.

Bakura explained. Kaiba was bored and still reading the book he picked up a while ago, he on request of Mailk was making notes on anything that might be helpful. History, names, mention of laws, it would have been easier if Malik got actual law books instead of what appeared to be school text books.

[If you're not with your siblings, who are you with? You keep saying 'we'.] Yugi asked. Yami raised his eyebrows, he did not catch that.

"Oh, right." He lowered his voice to a whisper to avoid another table listening in. "I found a spirit and her host checking out the exhibit. Spirit in a wristlet, says she was _court magician to Pharaoh Seth._ " He recited. Bakura straightened up with a face Yugi couldn't identify. This got Yami's interest as well, mainly because of the Thief's reaction. Seto did not seem to care of his part self being mentioned., he felt he had no reason to.

"Where is she?" he asked sharply. Yami felt a slight worry for this spirit for the thief to take an interest.

"Upstairs sleeping." He waved off. Bakura relaxed slightly, but Yami could tell his mind was reeling. "Which reminds me, you were in a fight a few hours ago, weren't you?"

Yugi nodded. [Yeah, us, Ryou and Bakura, how did you know?]

"Barely got away from them too." Bakura mentioned.

"She collapsed a while ago. I think you summoned her spirit. Let me see if she's awake since you are." Malik got up and headed to the stairs, he was nearly pushed down by the blonde woman from earlier bolting down the stairs with her wand out.

"EVERYONE GET DOWN!" She shrieked, moments before a large explosion from the main fire place on the other side of the room. Brick and dust flew all over the place, blinding them. They lost sight of Mailk. Bakura pulled out a knife and Kaiba had his gun out. Yami went for his cards as chaos ensued. They all ducked down out of sight. They could see people with black hoods and skull masks begin to appear from the smoke.

"DEATH EATERS! RUN-" Tom yelled out as people begin to disappear with loud cracks. The ones that didn't ran for it screaming in a panic. Tom had to duck behind his bar as one aimed at him, one of the barrels behind him was blasted and exploded with bits of wood flying everywhere.

"Sneaky bastard sent us to the Cauldron!" They heard. "Retreat! Stop the others from coming through!"

" **Go!"** Bakura threw his knife at them, hearing the shout an orange bubble appeared around them, the spell made the smoke clear. Now the attack was laid down Kaiba took aim from over an upturned table and fired. The bubble cracked and shattered and he heard a feminine shriek of pain. There was a small confirmation that Gun did in fact beat Shield. One down, three to go.

[Get up here!] Malik shouted in the link. He was at the top of the stairs, he had a wand out and pointed at one of the hooded people, he had the clear advantage, and they had no cover. Blue spells emerged from the wand. They threw shields up to protect themselves from the onslaught. While they did so, they couldn't case their own spells. The bearers and Kaiba quickly went up the stair case and stepped out destroyed brick. They heard more and more cracks, people where appearing down stairs and firing spells at the Death Eaters, they tried not to look back as they made their escape.

Malik waited until they were down the hall before he stopped firing and set the stair case on fire as an extra measure before backing away. He was about to go into his shared room when the blonde woman came out, he jumped at her reappearance.

"I got your friend." The woman said, indicating to the girl over her shoulder, who after everything had not stirred. "There's a back way out to the street, we can get away from there-"

Malik didn't move and instead pulled the Millennium rod out with his free hand.

 **[Careful!** ] Bakura warned. Malik took no heed as they saw his left eye twitch. Alarm bells where ringing for all of them, they didn't dare move, but the spirits shared a glance, if worst comes to worst they had to bring him down.

"Who are you?" Malik asked, the others pressed themselves against the wall to avoid its way. She looked to have little patience left.

"You wouldn't dare, I've got your friend on my back." She said in a tired tone. "Come on, we don't have time for this, those are Death Eaters-"

A spell came their way, Malik turned with the wand ready. The next spell hit him square in the chest and threw him to the ground with an alarming force.

" **Malik!** " Yami yelled. He heard Bakura do the same. He crouched down to take a better look at him, out cold. He had Dark Magician Girl on the top of his deck and was preparing to use her, she was alive somehow, and was his best choice since he knew anything with a higher attack might knock him out cold again.

"Get back!" Kaiba warned, aiming at the man's good eye. The other one whizzed around in a strange socket like brace.

"Mad Eye, you paranoid old man!" The woman yelled, who unsuccessfully tried to push pass the boys. "They're bystanders, not freaking Death Eaters!"

"They're the  _targets_ , Basil!" The miss-happened man growled. He had a heavy limp as he got closer. No one was backing down. A face they recognized came down the small stairway.

"Odion!" Yami said, barely believing it. A ginger haired man followed him with a wand out. Odion pushed pass Mad Eye and closer to them.

"What happened to my brother?!" The way Odion's voice had changed from quiet to a yelling panic set a chill run through Yami, one person he wished not to see mad was Odion, The quietest were the scariest from his experience. Odion rushed to his fallen brother and picked him up. "Was this your doing?" He turned to the man.

"It's getting heated down there we need to get out now!" The ginger haired man said, looking over his shoulder when something that sounded like a firework went off.

"They're The Order; we have to go with them." Odion informed, but didn't look happy.

"Give us the girl, Basil." Mad eye growled at the woman, she took a step back and seemed protective of her.

"I'm coming with you." She said. Mad Eye opened his mouth but she stopped him. "Don't argue with me, you will lose and you don't have the time."

"Fine!" He barked, two more people came down the hall. "Good timing! Remus, grab the hedgehog and the tall one and take them to headquarters, Tonks, white haired boy!"

The man with scares on his face named Remus nodded at the two, they we're going to attack. He put a hand on both of them and with a pop they disappeared. The disfigured man grabbed both the woman named Basil and the girl and disappeared as well.

"This will be unpleasant I warn you," she said, putting a hand on Bakura's shoulder. He pulled out and picked up the wand and the red head man was going for the Rod.

"No!" He snatched it from under his hand. The man turned with a curious look on his face. "You'll thank me for that."

"Come on boy, we got to leg it! Bill you first," Tonk's said with a hand on his shoulder, Bill, Odion and Malik disappeared a second before he felt like he was getting stuffed through a tube.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the longest chapter so far. This is longer then most of my original works. :O


	7. Two Reunions pt 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will try to keep a minimum to language swaps, since Japanese, emphasis and spells are all Italic.
> 
> Since everyone is now together, the narrative will change to all knowing narrator unless indicated otherwise, last episode was perspective jumping all over the place without indicating.
> 
> There had been a panic when I lost the USB with the next chapter on it, and couldn't update when I said. I quickly tried to retype it up, then found the bloody thing .

 

**Order of the Phoenix headquarters.**

Some people can talk to snakes, some had an affinity to mind reading, others could see the future. So rare to have an inborn talent such as that, when generations can pass until another one pops up from nowhere. It could travel down bloodlines, the phenomenon of these powers being passed down strengthen the pure blood mantra. Each family would pride themselves in some gift, Slytherin had the snake tongue. in her travels she had met a family that could walk on water, a man that only had to touch a seedling to make it grow. She kept in touch with many of them.

Basil had a severe headache from the teenagers sitting at the end of the table as she tried to concentrate on Mad Eye's explanation. Sensing magic was useful, but the raw power radiating from them made her instincts scream at her to run and hide. She knew what malevolent magic felt like, and this was it.

The Dark Lord had returned, was controlling Dementors, corrupting the government and was planning once again a takeover. It didn't surprise her. What did though, was only a few people were doing something about it. Across the table was convicted mass murderer Sirius Black who was apparently innocent, and upstairs was Harry Potter, who was telling the truth. It was like everything was a lie, a cover up! She rubbed her face in dismay, "What happened to our Ministry?"

"Bloody Fudge, is what happened." Sirius said, sitting across from her. "He's practically letting The Dark lord do what he pleases. He's searching for any power he could control." He turned his head to the side to look at the three Japanese boys sitting at the end of the table. It was almost a silent accusation that this was their fault, that having the odd, strange brand of magic was like a beacon to anyone that wanted to snatch it up. The boy's ignored this talk and had a private one in their own language, save the one called Kaiba, who scowled while looking at his phone.

"-Right, when you go rushing off to a foreign country to deal with a 'white ghost' outbreak and never came back." Clearly, he had not forgiven the old man comment. Basil narrowed her eyes and flicked her plait over her shoulder.

"You specialize in dark wizards, I specialize in dark creatures, I go where I'm needed. You're in an underground freedom fighter group so you can't talk about doing what you have to for your job." She said hotly.

"Easy guys," Bill said, stepping in. He had been leaning next to the fire place and took a step closer to the table. "Moody, she wants to join. We can't just obliviate her."

Moody looked like he was seriously considering it an option, he remembered some of her office antics and inwardly tried to figure out  _how_  her team got a herd of Centaurs in the ministry without anyone finding out for two days. Bill gave him a scolding look that rivalled his mother's before the older man sighed.

"Dumbledore has the final say." May Eye reminded, standing up. "Till then, we have bigger things to worry about."

"Where are you going?" Basil asked.

"Crime scene. Some fool might goof up." He growled.

"Moody you are  _retired._ " Bill stressed, rolling his eyes as the man limped out, ignoring him.

**Puzzle**

After they were done being ill from the teleporting, ('apparition' someone corrected while Bakura was cursing about it) met with Ishizu to confirm the Order's story, everything came together. Both the older Ishtar's were angry, they weren't showing it on their faces, but both Bakura and Yami could sense it. An angry Ishtar is a dangerous Ishtar. Bakura made a side comment on Ishizu's past life and how someone usually so stoic could become enraged at one man's death. Yami did not wish for details, and Kaiba promptly shut him up with a small wack to the back of the head.

Yami was wondering if they could trust the Order with their actions, they refused to lift the enchantment they placed on Malik to keep him asleep. They had learned the reason soon enough, he lost it and killed six Death Eaters earlier that day. The fact that he did not mention this when they met up was a factor in agreeing that Malik will stay asleep for the mean time.

Tonks left to do her job as an Auror, Moody later followed. The rest who stayed kept a wary eye on all of the new teenagers. They did their best to ignore it. They did not like it. Sirius, Lupin, Molly and Arthur were the only adults left to explain the situation to them, including Basil. From Basil's reaction, Sirius was a convicted mass murderer but was falsely accused. The man they called Dumbledore was coming soon, after the Leaky Cauldron attack had been sorted out. They hoped this would convince the Ministry that Dumbledore and someone called 'Harry Potter' were correct.

"We know what magic is." Bakura rolled his eyes when at one they tried to explain the situation. They listened as Basil was being informed of the current civil war about to come to a boil. "And you're world; beaten to the punch I'm afraid."

"By who?" Molly asked. She had returned from the kitchen with hot soup. All three ignored it, the spirits didn't feel hunger, and Kaiba wasn't touching anything without it being tested. They briefly pondered revealing who it was that led them to the Leaky Cauldron.

"Maxamillion Pegasus." Yami said, after a vote of 'yes'. He saw Arthur grimace and refrained from raising an eyebrow. "I see you're familiar with the name."

"I heard he was coming back to Britain on the great grape vine," Lupin muttered, "We should have seen the signs of this long before the Death Eaters attacked."

[Pegasus raising Cain for everyone, Is anyone else worried?] Ryou said, broadcasting. Unfortunately Kaiba had to be excluded, but they had devised a system that had everyone informed. Anything Yugi and Yami broadcasted in English, Bakura would relay in Japanese plus commentary out loud, Kaiba would speak Japanese, and Bakura translated to English inside his head. It was annoying to have the Tomb Robber as the middle and translator. But it kept their conversation hard to follow with the ever-changing languages.

[Pegasus has his own agenda, I'm sure of it.] Bakura answered. [Why else is he doing?]

There was a brief pause in the conversation as people arrived. A man they assumed correctly to be Dumbledore came in, followed by Tonks and Moody. The door closed behind them. Yami could swear he saw a black haired boy Yugi's age at the stair case as the door closed.

"How did it go?" Sirius asked, standing up and walking over to the door.

"Someone needs to jinx Fudge into next year." Tonks huffed, plonking herself into a chair next to Lupin. "Kingsley is still on the scene, interviewing witnesses."

"Wouldn't let me near the arrested death eaters." Moody said, sitting as well. "Called my methods  _outdated._ Hell, he's worried I would actually get a confession out of them!"

"People were arrested?" Sirius asked. "Isn't that a good thing?"

"Three arrests, twelve documented witnesses. You think it would be a big win for us that they stupidly got their asses thrown out in the open but nope! The ministry has them as American 'Rare Hunters', who are going along with it and are now Fudge is antagonizing the American Ministry!"

"That's enough Miss Tonks, calm down." Dumbledore said, she stopped speaking but was visible still fuming, her hair was rapidly changing from red, to yellow to all the colours in-between.

"But that's bull! The one that talked was obviously British!" Basil said. Yami did hear the distinct accents, the ones that had attacked them in Japan the second time had some Japanese wizards as well. The little fact has eluded him until that moment. Everything was slowing down now, they had the room the breath and think clearly.

"The rare hunters were disbanded and the only magic user in the group we are aware of was Malik." Bakura imputed. They seemed to remember the three boys sitting in the middle of their meeting.

"The leader got away, left the new recruits to the Aurors." Moody explained. "The point is, not only do we have Voldemort and his Death eaters to deal with, the Ministry, but the Americans are getting involved. This has turned into a right mess."

"No Molly. We shouldn't send them upstairs." Ishizu came into the room, the look on her face was neutral, but her younger brother was still upstairs in a forced unconscious state. Her tone hinted the anger in her voice, but subtly. Her attention as directed at the red haired mother, who had looked like she was going to say something. "That goes for all of you. They will not go, and I will tell them everything I hear anyway. So do not waste time, they shall stay and be informed." Her expression softened as she stood at Yami's side. "I know it is hard for you Molly, they look like children, and they are. But they are far more mature then you would think, they can handle anything."

She had a hand out to indicate to them. Kaiba had his arms crossed with an unreadable expression. Bakura stared at her in a disbelieving look. The way she defended them made Yugi smile. Yami could see the order members murmur to each other.

"It matters not our age anyway; we are not children." Bakura imputed. Yami was horrified and it showed on his face but could not stop him talking. "Technically, we're older then everyone in this room combined, alone with each one's parents and grandparents."

[The Hell, Bakura? Why are you telling them?] Yami yelled through the Link. Some of the wizards were straightening up, and he could see they were going for their sides. Yami wanted to do the same and reach for their cards, but it could start a fight.

"Oh shut up your high ass, they would have found out eventually." Bakura grinned, clearly happy at annoying the Pharaoh.

"Pardon?" Molly asked. She took a deep breath. "Wait, are we speaking to these 'Spirits' of the items?"

Now, looking close at them, there were distinct differences in their appearance. The most prominent was their eyes. An angry deep red and a pleased dark blue grey. They lacked the carefree look their pictures had, as well as the innocent air the pictures had given off.

"Duh." Bakura stood up to give a mock bow. "Thief King Bakura of Ancient Egypt. Fantastic to meet new people." He said with heavy sarcasm.

Yami scowled before going along with his game, Bakura returned to his seat. He crossed his arms again and turned to the group of Wizards. "I was a Pharaoh before my soul was sealed. My memories of my reign are gone."

"High ass lost his memory when his soul was bound to the Puzzle." Bakura added. "I did too, but my memories aren't stopping a god from entering this world."

Dumbledore frowned slightly before his face became neutral again. Yami did not miss this.

"Right, ancient spirits possessing teenagers with access to dark arts. We should definitely let them listen to our secret meetings." Sirius said sarcastically. Yami took offense to it, and by the look on Ishizu's face, she had as well. Yami made an automatic motion with his hand, a small wave. She nodded and backed down. It was not a gesture he was aware off.

[Implicit memory.] Yugi reminded. It was very regal like of him; he pulled his hand back into a fist, as if to control himself. What if implicit memory was enough to bring the god into this world? He did not want to risk it any further then he had already.

"Are you suggesting we are untrustworthy because of the type of magic we use?" Yami asked, brushing his thoughts away to the matter at hand. "You disapprove, but it is none of your business." He crossed his arms again. "To rest you're worries we can only share with the right person, our reincarnations. We have a partnership with them, I do not possess Yugi without his consent."

"I love how you didn't include me there, Pharaoh." Bakura laughed, rocking on his chair. "Me and Ryou have come to a partnership as well."

"It's not dark arts that are evil, it's the people that use it." Ishizu said, narrowing her eyes, she gave Bakura a look. That was trouble. "Sealing the Pharaoh and the Evil was an act of using dark arts for a good deed."

"They should stay." The old man said. It was very clear whatever this man said was gospel. If there had been anymore argument on the matter it had been stemmed. "They should know what is going on."

"Good, before we go on." Yami said, in the most commanding voice possible. "Only several people actually know we time share with our lights. We don't want more people than necessary knowing about us."

"The department of spirits would pitch a fit if they found out about you." Basil said. "Rest assure, I doubt anyone here will go report you."

"They don't call it that anymore." Moody informed. "Changed around the time you left-"

They continued on speaking on the subject on the Death Eater attacks, as well as continuing on the leaky Cauldron. The Ministry was still trying to find out where they came from, location wise.

"Pegasus must have redirected the fireplace after we went through."Kaiba said out loud, he got attention from the most he had said in the last hour. "I have to admit, that's a brilliant move."

"It could have been more brilliant to direct them to somewhere, not where we were." Bakura pointed out.

"Not really, Bakura." Yami mused, his head reeling. "It's like he sent us through the back door and they came through the front. This has a rather public stunt, handled correctly, this could be an excellent win to convince people that this dark lord has returned, or cast doubt that everything is alright."

He nearly smirked at the faces the wizards gave him. No one ever expected Yugi saying something like that, but it should be expected, he was duel monsters champion, battle tactics came with the territory. Kaiba picked up on it as well, for the same reasons.

"Correct, these boys are as sharp as tacks." Moody said, with a hint of praise in his voice. "Fudge can't hide what's out in the open."

"So Pegasus planed this." Kaiba muttered. "That man..." he closed his eyes in thought before opening them again, any trace of annoyance gone as he went into serious businessman mode. "Passing that, I would like to know when we will be going home. Encase you have forgotten, we're halfway across the world and quiet literally has disappeared without a trace. Now, I have a company to run, I will be missed if I do not return in the next  _hour_ , these two have school."

"No passport trail, it's illegal to go to another country without passing customs, which we haven't." Bakura said, Yami suspected he was relaying what Ryou told him. Why he was not broadcasting made him paranoid. What where they planning?

"I apologise for the inconvenience. We do not think it's a good idea for anyone to move at the moment." Dumbledore explained. "People have been sent to your house Seto-"

"I prefer Kaiba." He said. Dumbledore nodded in acknowledgment.

"The extra protection should make anyone think twice about attacking everyone." Dumbledore continued. "Mister Mutou, your grandfather is making arrangements to stay with a Professor Hawkins in America, tickets appeared under his door. Which had nothing to do with us."

"Damn it, Pegasus was pulling strings at the start!" Bakura growled abruptly making some order members jump slightly. "That was the day before, he must have known we were going to be attacked."

"I'm grateful." Yami said on Yugi's behalf. "It is better we stay away from them, we're the targets, not them." He looked to Ishizu who nodded, indicating it was correct. He heard the Thief scoff at his words.

"Bakura, your father is safe in Egypt, we have Bill watching over him now and informing him of the situation." Tonk continued. Bakura stood up again quickly with a very distinctive angered look.

"He didn't know." Bakura said through gritted teeth. "He does not know of his son's activities, or our arrangement. If he did, he doesn't seem to care." He paused. "Well he doesn't!"

"Mentally arguing with yourself, you wonder why people at school avoid you." Kaiba muttered.

"We informed him that you will be going back to Britain and may be staying awhile, nothing about the Items if that is your main concern." Dumbledore informed. "We would like to inform Darcy's parents as to where she is."

"We do not know her, Malik does." Ishizu informed them about her, but did not know much about her herself. For Ishizu, it was like she appeared out of nowhere. "Which brings us to my brother again."

"We want him awake,  _now._ " Yami said.

"I'm agreeing with the Pharaoh, I hate doing that. So you really should wake him up."

[Ishizu, can you hear us?] Yugi called out. She made a slight nod. [Can you reply?] She gave a small jerk of her head, indicating a 'no'. While this was excellent news that their conversations could be heard by the bearers, it would have been better if they could all communicate.

"Out of the question." Sirius said firmly. "He's too dangerous."

"You don't seem to understand." Bakura said. "That Malik is our friend, keeping him like he is will make all of us a little cranky." He had his psychopathic smile on. It reminded Yami of when he had threatened the Death Eaters.

"He's with his family now, he will be alright now." Yami assured, but he was glaring at the ex con.

"Six people, he killed _six people._ " Sirius reminded before anyone could speak. "My god son, and five other underage students are upstairs, I'm not risking them because this is apparently a normal occurrence."

"So he's going to stay like that for who knows how long?" Bakura asked. "No. If you won't wake him up, _we will._ "

"It is around time Mister Ishtar woke up." Dumbledore said, with a small nod to the foreigners. "Miss Ishtar has informed me of the matter."

"Dumbledore-" Arthur said. A majority of his children where upstairs, and shared the same concerns of Sirius and his wife.

"I trust that Mister Ishtar will not harm anyone under this roof." Dumbledore said. "He is a guest as well."

"Fine." Sirius muttered darkly, caving in. "Moody can take the charm of him, but I don't want him alone with the others."

"We will not leave him alone again." Ishizu said, she gave a small bow to them. Ishizu and Moody left the room to go upstairs. There was a silence before Kaiba broke it.

"I left my briefcase at the Pub." Kaiba said. "If we're going to stay here any longer, I would like that and some clothes."

"Mungus Fletcher is getting your things from the leaky cauldron," Dumbledore explained. "And tomorrow we will take you home briefly to get any belongs you cannot go long without."

"We're trusting that thief to actually do something?" Tonks rose an eyebrow. Yami couldn't help just jump slightly at the word 'thief'. "Every time he comes here we are literally batting his hands of the silverware."

"He'll be able to find everything." Bakura injected. "If he's good, he won't be found and will be quick."

"Once a Thief, always a Thief." Yami muttered, Bakura shot him a glare, his expression completely changed.

"Once a tyrannic Pharaoh, always a jackass!" He countered. Yami opened his mouth but closed it again, realizing he really had no retort, since he did not know himself, he couldn't confirm this for certain. Dartz had used this tactic on him. Now he thought on it, he only had Bakura's word on his own actions, an actual firsthand account.

The hostility level rose between them, the Order may have noticed and went quiet.

"Jesus Christ, you people better not start fighting," Kaiba said, getting up from his chair, he took a step between them. Surprising them both. "It's not the time or place, break it up,  _now._ "

Yami and Bakura looked at him for a moment before looking at each other with looks of pure loathing. They simultaneously gave control back to their Lights.

The change was apparent, since they did not try and hide the transaction. The Pharaoh seemed to grow shorter, his hair slightly less wild and his eyes became wider and changed from red to a deep purple. Bakura's hair lost volume, his eyes became gentle and a brown. They both looked out of it.

Ryou took a sharp breath in and had to lean on the table, Yugi steadied him. Kaiba sat back down, sensing that Yugi and Ryou where back in control. Some order members leaned forward, Molly, concerned took a step forward.

"Are you alright?" Molly asked, seeing the innocent kids from the Photos. Healing was out of the question, as Bakura had forbidden anyone touching him with their magic. The Pharaoh took his lead on that as well, trusting Bakura's paranoia.

"Forgot about the bruising." Ryou said through his teeth. The Spirits could not interoperate body signals, such as hunger and muscle strain, which was bad when they came back into control and could feel their psychical needs at a low level. They could feel pain however, but were very good at masking it. "I'm fine." He insisted, standing up straighter much more slowly.

[Mine's crashed, Yami?] Ryou asked silently.

[He's trying not to, wait, there he goes.] Yugi commentated, Yami's conscious slipped deeper into the puzzle. He had been fighting exhaustion the entire time.

"Are you Yugi Mutou and Ryou Bakura?" Dumbledore asked with a twinge of curiosity in his voice.

"Yes." Yugi said. "They're tired, and snapping at each other more cruelly than usual."

"Why do you let them possess you?" Molly asked them, there was a worry in her voice.

"Several reasons," Yugi started slowly. "One, he needs me. Two, I'm his light." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know how it works, with the sealing his soul was split into two, it was in to the light part and dark part. I  _think_ it's the same with Bakura."

"What do you mean by Light and Dark?" Tonks asked. Frowning slightly.

"Well, when we first came together, the Pharaoh was a little... wild." Yugi admitted. "Malik told us that the sealing consisted of first using the Pharaoh's memories as a seal to the Evil. He forgot everything. But the Priests and Priestess created a loop hole. They divided the soul into two, Light and Dark, One part would stay in the Puzzle, the other would reincarnate." He looked to Ryou, and then continued explaining. "This killed him. But know he has a chance of going to the afterlife."

Dumbledore seemed to be concentrating hard, he listened to ever word. He did not seem to mind the possession as much as the other members had.

"Different story for mine, not sure what it is." Ryou continued. "I'm a descendent that matched him. Fate has an odd way of bringing the Items with their Hosts."

"But they are still spirits, and you're still getting possessed." Arthur pointed out. "Our daughter was possessed by … a spirit that was in a diary." He managed to say. Yugi realized this might be a difficult subject. He nodded.

"We understand your concern. It was crazy for a while, but as Pharaoh told you, we are partners." He smiled weakly, remembering the antics Yami had gotten up to. Good and bad. "We are quite literally supposed to be together. Other than what I've told you, we do not know much else."

Yugi missed Ryou's expression that could only be guilt. Kaiba however, did not.

"As we pointed out, you will have to stay here for protection." Dumbledore reminded.

"And we will be happy to stay here for a while." Yugi smiled. "It's just that we will like to contact our friends face to face, they'll be worried about us."

"That can all be done tomorrow," Molly said. "First, we'll have to find some changing clothes for you."

**Ring**

It was a few hours later and the night had truly taken hold. Ryou had a limp from the day before; Bakura had been hiding it well. His ribs where hurting and it was difficult to breathe, but he managed. Yugi was faring better, and Kaiba was untouched.

Most of the order members had left for the night.

They got their things back. Kaiba got his briefcase and started tinkering with his phone and laptop and immediately called Mokuba and his company. Turns out, Pegasus has already intervened, going public in saying that the duelist where going on a payed vacation. To say Kaiba was angry was an understatement.

After the Order meeting, the other teens came downstairs to use the large table to do homework. But it seemed to be a ploy to finally talk to them. Meeting them was quiet fun; it gave them a new insight on this world. Kaiba remained anti social and continued reading one of the spell books. Malik still had not awakened. They were waiting for the enchantment to wear off now, and Ishizu and Odion were there, to calm him down if he woke up dark.

They were telling them all about their school, and more about magic. This did get Kaiba interested. Ryou figured that now he knew about it, and there were books to learn from Kaiba will be determined to master it. It nearly made him smile at how normal it felt. These people were in the same situation as them. Harry in particular, who was strangely quiet.

"Hey, Harry." Ryou greeted. Hermione was informing Kaiba of Magic theory while the Weasley's where commenting on Yugi's hair, and he was trying to teach them the basics of Duel monsters.

"Bakura, was it?" he asked awkwardly.

"Yugi's Language spell must have holes in it, Japanese do introduce themselves family name first. I'm Ryou." They shook hands and Harry mustered up a smile.

"You're British, aren't you? So why are you in Japan, if you don't mind me asking?" Harry said.

"It's alright. My mother was British, father Japanese." Ryou explained. "I lived here until I was 8, then went to Japan."

"What made you move?" He was sure Harry was only going along with the conversation out of politeness at first, but he could hear the curiosity in his voice.

"There was an accident." He said quietly, realizing he should not dump his trauma onto someone new he tried to sound indifferent. "My sister and Mother were in a car crash. So it's been me and my father for a while."

"I'm sorry," Harry muttered. He did sound sorry.

"It's alright. Anyway, I heard you had a trial on tomorrow." He redirected the conversation, they shouldn't talk about dead family anyway.

"Yeah, they wouldn't postpone it because of the leaky cauldron attack." He said, and gave him a small smile. "Nice try though."

"I haven't heard why you are on trial thought what do they think you did?" He wondered what being in court would be like. It was not a new thought to him, as he used to be worried sick Bakura would get them arrested.

"I used magic outside of school while under-aged." He shrugged. "Instead of letting me and my cousin’s soul get sucked out I defended us against Dementors."

"Soul sucked? These Dementors can do that?" Ryou asked, alarmed at this. He immediately thought of the danger he, Yugi and the spirits would be in. Was it possible to have the Spirits soul sucked?

"FILTHY MUDBLOODS!" a voice shrieked, Ryou jump. Harry didn't seem to care for the screaming, as if it was a normal occurrence. "FILTH IN THIS NOBLE HOUSE, MUGGLES AND THE SORT-"

"SHUT THE HELL UP YOU OLD BAT!" Sirius's voice screamed back. "HONESTLY, NO ONE CARES ABOUT WHAT YOU THINK!"

The woman's voice went silent mid-screech. Sirius came into the room, pushing a bewildered looking girl in, her brown hair was out and messy, along with white clothes and a lack of shoes.

"Hi, sorry about my mother, she likes yelling at everyone." The man said in a scary cheery manner. "You must be Darcy, I'm Sirius Black and this is my house. You were unconscious when you came here."

"Hello, who are you people?" Darcy said in an Australian accent, getting over the screaming rather quickly. "The Ishtar's told me to come down here to meet you. They told me why he was like that in the first place."

There was a silence before Yugi got up to introduce himself.

"I'm Mutou Yugi and this is Bakura Ryou." He gave a small bow. She took a step back before a dawn of recognition.

"Japanese?" She asked. Yugi nodded.

[Testing. Anyone picking me up?] A new voice came through the link. Ryou replied instantly.

[Yes.] He said. It felt strange to have someone else use the link.

[Loud and clear.] Yugi said. They didn't let it show on their faces they were mentally talking.

[Mana is sleeping, I think, I don't know when she will wake up.] Darcy informed.

\Good.\ Bakura was awake. Ryou jumped slightly again. He berated himself for being so surprised all the time. \But this as a situation is bad, Land Lord. Very bad.\

/How?/ he asked. Another spirit was odd, as there wasn’t other items to house a spirit. He spotted a gold brace on her right arm.

\Mana is someone that may remember the past, like I have. It will not go well when she wakes up. I'm hoping she does not know.\

"His language charm is on the frizz, His first name is Yugi and I am Ryou. That is Seto Kaiba in the corner." Ryou said, it had been a short pause between Yugi speaking out loud. He would question the Spirit letter. He introduced the British students as well.

[Yami is awake again, he wants to switch.] Yugi informed.

[I'm staying put.] Bakura said. Ryou guessed he was hiding, he would never admit it however.

"I recognize that name." She frowned with a suspicion, looking to Kaiba. "Do you know a man named Hiroto Yagami?"

After a pause, Kaiba replied. "Yes, a former businessman that disappeared a year ago after his new house burned down." He rattled off. "He was a partner of mine. After he disappeared his company tanked, had to cut him." He frowned and remembered another detail. "It was in Australia."

"I hope you didn't like him." She said simply. He raised an eyebrow. The British students did as well. "He was a bad son of a bitch in his spare time."

"Oh, you're awake," Molly said, passing into the room. "Sweetie, we'll have to find out your parents so we can inform them of the situation."

Darcy filched at being touched, even it was a friendly motherly gesture. He could tell Bakura was storing that piece of information away for later use.

"My mother doesn't know about all this!" She said. "And I don't want her too. I don't think she'll notice I was gone anyway." The way she said that was like a punch in the gut for Ryou. Bakura said something similar only hours ago. Her eyes suddenly widened. "Holy-I have school tomorrow- Today!" She looked to her watch with told the time in Australia. It would have been early morning. "I can't miss there next few weeks, I got exams soon!"

"We can't leave," Yami said, having taken over. "It's for our own safety."

She ran a hand through her hair in frustration. "Okay, I can't leave, I can work with that. I'll give you my mother's details, but I want to contact my friends." She wrote down her address and phone number and passed the paper back to Molly.

"We're doing that all in the morning," Molly assured. Darcy sighed.

"It  _is_  morning." She said hotly. "I'm not leaving them in the dark for another eight hours. I was supposed to met them at the train station to go back home. They'll be worried. Bloody Kat will be tearing up Sydney."

"I have a phone you can use." Kaiba offered, Molly left to go give the details to someone. "If you really got rid of Yagami, it's the least I can offer."

"Thank you, that's brilliant mate." She said. She took a step forward toward to him to retrieve said phone, but paused. "Welcome back. I was- **MY PRINCE!** " She tackled Yami suddenly, whose look of surprised made Bakura wish a camera was handy. Darcy appeared standing as a spirit, looking over the two figures on the floor while shaking her head. Kaiba moved from the couch as if to get a closer look at what had happened, but Ryou saw he had his phone in his hand and had  _taken a picture._  Bakura was roaring in his head with laugher, and it was pretty contagious. Ryou stiffened a giggle.

"... Is that normal?" Harry asked. Ryou shrugged.

[You've become victim of the Mana hello.] Darcy said in a flat tone to Yami. [This is the ancient, crazy cheery spirit Mana I was talking about, clearing you have met.] Mana was speaking a mile a minute. Yami still looked bewildered. The British teenagers where looking on with raised eyebrows, as they did not understand a word that came out of Mana's mouth.

"- **Someone fixed you arm up, that's good. Are you alright? Whatever you're in one piece it's so good to see you alive! Really actually alive spikey hair and all.** " She ruffled his hair which he tried to stop by grabbing her hand. She kept her big smile. Pharaoh was not a big fan of physical affection, Ryou noticed. He didn't touch anyone if he couldn't help it, very stiff. Bakura had told him that it was how he was brought up and just a royal trait. It was times like that he wondered how Bakura knew all this about the Pharaoh.

"Uh..." He honestly did not know how to react to this girl.

"Aw, he’s speechless!" Bakura took over and prodded. " **Don't you remember her Pharaoh?** " It sounded like he was mocking him. Yami didn't like it. It still did not answer who she was.

Her smile faltered while she looked up at him, Bakura feel silent and Ryou felt a twang of actual fear. [Well shit. She remembers me.]

/What did you  _do?_ / Ryou asked again, much more urgently. He could see how she was sizing them up and it unnerved him.

\Nothing worth sharing.\ he said hastily. Which was a lie, an obvious lie. But he could not do much about it.

 **[You're very hard to forget.]**  She muttered darkly, getting up off the Pharaoh. "Stupid me." She muttered to herself. She held a hand out to help him up and as a greeting. "It would be stupid that you would remember me. I'm Mana, I was court magician to Pharaoh Seth, and an apprentice when you ruled." Yami took her hand and helped him up. She let go of his hand gingerly. She paused to try and find the right words, and came to a simple sentence. "I was your friend."

/Are you alright Mana?/ Darcy asked, worried. This was not how they imagined the reunion, she imagined he would hug back and smile as well.

\Yes.\ she said, and Darcy knew it was a lie. She had known he was sealed, and that his soul was divided and ripped apart, but Mana didn't think  _all_  of his memories were gone. She couldn't stop herself from feeling hurt. She remembered him, but he didn't remember her.

"You were?" He made an involuntary movement to look at the thief. It was strange at how much they hated each other, they were the only ones they could rely on.

"Since Childhood," She continued. "We basically grew up together." There was a desperate tone in her voice no one missed.

[Switch? You two can talk more out of body.] Darcy offered, in a much kinder tone.

[Oh coarse, Darcy.] Mana said back. Both the magician and pharaoh switched, becoming spirits and stood in the corner to talk. Bakura switched as well, but stayed in the ring and listened.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TBH it didn't occur to me that Mana/Darcy could have seen Yugi/Yami on TV and magazines and posters and EVERYTHING. Opps.


	8. Two Reunions pt 2

**Puzzle**

After the confusion that was Mana and a quick lie to the students, things eased back into normal chatter. Hermione, Kaiba, and Darcy were going over books still. Yami was unsure that Hermione knew of their motives of learning as much as they could, maybe she thought they liked to learn instead of the more cynical motive of making sure their magic couldn't be used against them if things turned bad with the order, he hoped it didn't come to that. Yugi was enjoying the company of the red-headed siblings and were learning from them as well.

Ryou was still talking to Harry, much more chipper then earlier. Malik was sleeping off the effects of the spell cast on him so while they waited for him to wake up they were getting to know everyone. It was funny how they all knew what to do to work as a group; everything they were doing now might work to their advantage later on.

Meanwhile, Yami was hanging on to ever word Mana said even if half the time he had no clue what she was talking about. But he didn't want her to stop talking at all. He only paused her once after nearly half an hour.

**[Do you remember anything about the sealing?]**

**[I'm actually pretty fuzzy on that as well.]** She tilted her head slightly. **[The sealing, and nearly everything afterwards is blacked out.]** **They concluded it was like how he and the thief had their memories wiped, or it was a side effect of the sealing. She did not remember his name, no matter how hard she had tried.**

He didn't actually think about what he wanted to know about his life, other than to know if he had been a good ruler to his people and that Dartz and Bakura were wrong. No, instead she talked about a childhood thousands of years in the past that felt straight out of a story book.

 **[You loved your games, and were always the most excited when an exhibition came back with something new.]** **She was smiling fondly at the memories herself.** **[And you basically mastered every training exercise that came your way, eventually; you wouldn't let anything get the best of you. You were terrible in actual lessons though, all that political things really went over your head. There was this one diplomat that couldn't leave fast enough.]**

**[What did I do?]**

**[Accidently or on purpose let loose three cheetahs he had brought as a gift, you were never clear on which one it was.]** **Yami couldn't suppress the bemusement on his face.** **[Your father was torn between fury and laughter- these were your words by the way- when you had somehow didn't get eaten when you gave one a tummy rub and basically turned into a giant kitten.]**

Yugi stiffened a giggle on the other side of the room. The idea of a young Yami taming a cheetah was to amusing to keep a straight face, Ron had thought it was directed at how terrible he was at playing duel monsters. It did open up another question he didn't realize he wanted to know more about.

**[What was my father like?]**

Mana had to pause, seeming to gather her thoughts.

 **[I don't remember much of him, I barely saw him but you told me a lot about him.]** She said slowly, as if she did not know how to tell him this. **[His rule became a time of peace, after the queen died, your mother, he didn't marry again, even for political reasons, though there were close calls as you put it.]** Everything she said had another story behind it. He stayed silent, knowing she would go on. **[I think it was a loyalty to the queen, she did sire all of his children after all.]** He couldn't help but cut her off.

 **[All? I had siblings?]** That was a surprising new thought, there had not been much to go on with the information he had, but there had never been a mention of siblings. A feeling of guilt swelled, he had never given the idea of his mother a second thought before now.

**[Sorry Prince, but you didn't know them. They were old enough to go to war and died in one of the last battles before the millennium items were created.] [You were born literally a day after he officially ended the wars, and crown prince from birth.]**

He didn't know how he knew, but she seemed to be side stepping something, she had talked about incidents, now she was being more detached. He could see Bakura out of the corner of his eye, who was haunting the outside hall. He didn't make eye contact when he passed.

**[Because you were the only heir, and because your father refused to take another wife, you were protected fiercely, when you were kidnaped when you were much younger he was on the verge of single handily shifting all the sand in Egypt away to get you back.]**

Protective and fierce they were qualities he could not deny he shared with his father. She bit her lip, wondering if she should continue down this road.

**[But, you did express a lot of resentment because of this. I can count on my hands how many times you left the palace, and most of those times it did not go well for us.]**

It was a small, small movement he would have missed. Maybe it was a random twitch that didn't mean anything. But it looked like she had turned to the direction of the door. Bakura had paused for half a second and the doorway then continued like nothing happened.

He could not shake the feeling that Bakura was somehow involved, because he is always, somehow involved.

 **[There had been a young servant. You were friends since you were so close in age. When I arrived at the palace, and we became friends as well.]**  There was a half-smile and he could tell that something was wrong. **[His mother had tried assassinating a priest; she had been promised a big payment to poison him.]** There was barely a beat before she continued **[So after she was caught, he was executed along with her.]**

He did not know how to react; Yugi had dropped his cards in shock.

 **[You were furious. I can understand why he overacted; it was shortly after you were kidnapped, so anything that happened was dealt with quickly and deadly.]** Her tone was clinical. **[We were young, we didn't understand how all the politics worked, the risks.]** But she went quiet.  **[But he still was killed for his mother's actions. I don't even remember his name.]**

That wasn't fair, it wasn't right. But he had to agree that he could see why his father took that action, even if he didn't at all agree with it, he could imagine getting angry over it. Why did the boy have to suffer because of something his parent did?

 **[Why that one?]** Bakura had stalked into the room. Ryou stiffened as he shifted away from Yugi. Was Bakura planning on attacking them?  **[That story, out of anything in your childhoods you concentrate on that one.]**

 **[What are you talking about?]** She asked, Yami didn't understand what was going on either. They both had most of their memories intact, so they remember each other's actions?

 **[I see what you're doing, and it's slimy.]** He growled, he took a threatening step forward and they both tensed. Mana narrowed her eyes at him, like she was daring him to attack.

 **[What do you think I'm doing?]** Darcy straightened up, and muttered something in broken Japanese to Kaiba, he didn't react but Yami could almost see the reels in his head turning.

How were they going to stop some angry spirits if they start fighting? They were components for a bomb, waiting to go off at the slightest nudge.

 **[You're being biased as hell.]** He stated.  **[You're leaving out a lot, like how he wasn't the only one kidnapped, and that almost a hundred children were taken as well? No, it all has to revolve around the princeling here.]**

**[Hopefully, there would be time for everything else.]**

**[Of course! Silly me]**  His hollow, sarcastic laugh did not bode well. There had been no sign of an attack but Yami watched him encase he went to jump into Ryou. **[I'm guessing you were going to talk about the village, the one that was sacrificed to make the items? How it was full of families but since it was a criminal town it was okay!]**  The room was getting darker, now if the British students didn't notice something was wrong before they were now. **[I lost family as well, yet it seems his high ass never knowing his war hungry siblings or having his favourite servant killed were the biggest tragedies to happen!]**

Yami didn't know how to defuse the situation at all, anything he would say would make Bakura angrier, he was unsure how Mana would react.

 **[This is not the time to fight,]** He decided on saying.  **[We can't afford to get angry-]**

 **[There you go with the orders, always your default.]** He cut him off.  **[I'm not one of your priests or magicians that follow your every word and I'm not going to start now.]**

He did not know how that would have ended if a voice did not break the argument.

 **"Time to calm down."** Malik, followed immediately by Odion appeared at the doorway, His blonde hair was a mess and large bags under his eyes. **"Guys, you'll bring the house down."**

**Wristlet**

How Malik had stopped three ancient, dark magic wielding spirits with his mere presents was amusing to Darcy. She had several theories as to why that was so. Mana liked him, and she rarely gave into a fight in the first place. She wasn't sure about the others, but she had a suspicion it had something to do with the tattoos. From there, she had no idea how it connected. Maybe it was the anger he displayed. Maybe it was the dark thing in his head area.

"Is Ishtar going to be the voice of reason here?" Kaiba asked, "There has to be a better candidate."

Malik poked his tongue out at him in a juvenile display

"Malik." Darcy greeted. "You're still breathing." Hermione's eyes widened at the sight of him. He looked very menacing at the moment so she didn't blame him.

"Good, we can get the meeting over and done." Kaiba said, standing up. The spirits disappeared.

/That was out of character, Mana. / She said with the spirit safely in the wristlet. /Do you need to talk?/

\No, Darcy. Not now.\ she sounded so tired.

"Meeting?" Harry said as Ryou got up. The uneasiness faded as the shadows diminished. However, it wasn't Ryou in control anymore.

"Yeah, to talk about what we're doing now," Yugi said, getting up. "Upstairs would be fine."

They had to crowd into the bed room upstairs. Odion stayed in the hallway to patrol, encase someone tried to listen in. Bakura was leaning on the door so if Odion failed somehow he would hear anything else. They were being careful.

"So let's bring this meeting to an order," Malik said in a sarcastic bright tone. "Before they decide to put me into another coma."

"They wouldn't dare," Bakura said. "They don't have our support in this war of theirs so they can't afford getting us mad at them."

"So that cements our involvement then, fantastic." Darcy drawled, she stood near the window. She noticed how they positioned themselves, Yugi was sitting on the trunk and Ishizu on the edge of the bed, Kaiba and Malik refused to sit and paced the room regularly.

"Hey, Darcy? Cut the accent." Malik said.

"Aw, I was reaching a record." She grinned, dropping the accent back to its lighter tone. "The point is that we're stuck here, which sucks for me because exams are literally around the corner and we're half way across the world from our homes."

"Pegasus is on that. We're not sure what's going on though, we're pretty much on lock down until tomorrow." Yugi imputed. "It feels like they're keeping us here."

"Their intentions of giving us shelter are pure but it is unrealistic to say that they can get us out of this war," Ishizu said, she had spent the most time with the order members and got an accurate read on them, she didn't need the necklace for this.

"We're useful tools for either side, why would they leave us be?" Darcy mentioned. "They don't even take us seriously considering we're still in high school, but they don't want powerful wildcards out in the open."

"Okay to business, we're here, we're stuck and we have to work with it," Malik said before the conversation could get more out of hand. "They took the tablet, they have the millennium book and we do not know what is in it other than the sealing spell and the instructions to create the items."

"What can they learn from the tablet that wasn't public?" Yugi asked.

"Not much," Malik said, shaking his head. "They would need a translator, and since a tomb keeper fraction sold out they wouldn't be short on them."

"The order thinks the death eaters heard about how the Pharaoh's soul was placed into the Puzzle and finding it might be a step to gaining immortality," Ishizu said. "This dark lord is obsessed with it."

"Yet another lunatic chasing down the items. What, that makes four now." Kaiba could have rolled his eyes at this. Darcy raised an eyebrow, wondering of what the Japanese students deal with with the spirits. Malik shot him a look.

"He's tried to take over the wizards' world 14 years ago. He's killed dozens with a large following called the Death Eaters. They’re blood purists, meaning that normal people were out, along with anyone with normal blood, even association with muggles put a red flag over your head." Kaiba's accumulated knowledge poured out in a clinical way. Darcy picked up as he paused.

"He went to the school that the professors teach at. Dumbledore was a teacher at the time and knew him as a child, hell, almost everyone in this house had gone to Hogwarts, it's a key political sphere, now filled with children of terrorist that escaped judgment, kids with parents in government, old families, the entire future of the British Wizard world under one roof most of the year led by someone damaging the peace. This house itself was owned by the Black's that have several family members as death eaters. Harry downstairs is also a key piece in this war."

For a moment Ryou took over to give his piece.

"Harry 14 years ago was targeted by the Dark Lord as a baby, instead of dying the death curse backfired and killed him. Made Harry famous, now the government is slandering his image for surviving again last year and saying the Dark Lord is still alive."

"From what we gather, the Minister is trying to maintain the peace so he can keep his job," Darcy added. "Media, politics, economy, too many factors for him to be able to handle it all if Harry and Dumbledore are proven right."

"The America Ministry of Magic is also involved, so dealing with another power, the Order fears a coup by them if they get any more involved than they are now," Ishizu said. "Which Pegasus coming back to Britain would create the illusion that The Ministry is getting cornered, and might do something drastic in turn."

"Like what?" Yugi asked, a little clueless to the political factors.

"Several things," Kaiba said, stopping his pacing routine. "Show they still have a grip on the situation and convict Harry that he was lying for starters, then take Dumbledore out of his headmaster position and replace him with someone ministry controlled, so he has no power in the political sphere. I heard they already have a smear campaign in motion for him."

"Then somehow show up the American's that might be thinking about a coup. Maybe make an example of Pegasus. If the ministry hears of us, and our 'apparent' involvement with the death eaters, they will deal with us also." Malik sat next to his sister. "Even if we were the ones attacked, they would try and keep us quiet."

There was a small silence, they were obviously thinking about how they had comatose Malik with a simple wave of a wand, what would they do to them if they were not of use to any of the three sides.

"And Pegasus is coming back to Britain to do god knows what," Kaiba muttered. "He diffidently knows his presents is going to cause a panic."

"And that's all we got." Darcy finished.

"We do have an advantage now we're all together." Kaiba agreed.

"And we have Pegasus watching our backs." Yugi pipped up. "Even if he's not with us, it's good to know he knows what's going on."

[He could stab it at any moment, though.] Bakura added, appearing. Darcy could appreciate the paranoia.

[Hark whose talking.] Yami said. They both disappeared as quickly as they appeared. Both Yugi and Ryou barely looked fazed.

"Really all that is missing is Shadi and the  _whole set of items are in one place,_ " Malik said. "Now that is risky, far too risky."

Darcy had no idea what they said, Malik might have had a good reason to switch languages. Bugs? No, he would have mentioned something earlier.

"But safety in numbers. I'm having second thoughts on splitting up tomorrow," Yugi said.

"Two items going to japan, two plus the wristlet to Australia, two inaccessible, and one missing, the odds of them getting them all, if they ever try to do that is slim."

[Three.] Yami corrected. Shooting a dirty look at Bakura's way.

[Asshole.] Bakura growled.

Ryou sighed. "We have the eye."

"So now what?" Yugi said, ignoring the spirits. "We know all this, what are we going to do?"

"Stay out of this, hide, wait for it to bow over," Malik suggested. "What else can we do?"

"Yeah, right under the thumb of the Order, in debt and could call on us for a favour at anything, which I would not actually be inclined to do but I know some here would be," Kaiba said, making a side glance to Yugi.

[So we sit around and do nothing? What about the tablet? The Book? Leave it with them?] Yami asked. [That information should not fall into the wrong hands, and if we are informed correctly, this Dark Lord is just that.]

"We don't know where they are based in this country, we don't know where to start and asking these people would have us associate with them," Darcy said. "We can't start anything with what we know."

"So tomorrow we do what we did tonight? Talk to the others and get information because those guys are in the dark as well." Ryou said, crossing his arms, then winching at the action.

"Even Harry?" Yugi asked, he had barely talked to the darker haired boy that night, it was actually pretty incredible how fast friends Ryou had made with him.

"Especially Harry." Ryou confirmed. "He's so annoyed at how little they have involved him with this."

Odion popped his head into the room, scaring Ryou slightly at his appearance.

"Mrs. Weasley had prepared dinner for those that have not eaten yet." He said. "As well as the other children are going to bed, Harry has to be in court in the morning."

"It's nearly 3 am, that woman is dedicated," Yugi noted.

"Timezones and crap, no one would be sleeping," Darcy muttered. "Do we want to continue this downstairs?"

"You need to eat brother, when did you last get a full meal?" Ishizu said, standing. Malik made a face before following.

They dispersed, leaving and making their way downstairs again. Even if he was near the door, Ryou was one of the last in the room. Darcy grabbed the back of Ryou's shirt and pulled back into the room before he made it far and closed the door behind them.

Bakura immediately took over, jerked his arm forward to dislodge a knife in his sleeve to his hand. As he turned a hand tightly clamped around his wrist, twisted roughly until she was able to take the knife. He was not even able to get the other one out she had grabbed his arm, closing her hand around the knife about to come out of his sleeve. There was no room for kicking or bringing his leg up to grab a spare.

"You're tricks are rather old fashioned." She said, she pulled back, she didn't threaten him with the knife, instead safely held it in reverse to create the illusion that she did not even know how to use it. "Sleeves, really? I bet you have one in your boot as well."

 **"You think you can take me on? Please, you are no match for** _ **me**_ **."** He snarled, he must be wondering what Mana was playing at attacking him. He did not call on any Shadows, Malik and Yami would come running. This was a personal battle now.

"Cut the Egyptian, Mana isn't a part of this conversation." She growled. "Let's  _talk_."

There was no change in his stance. She watched his hands, the moment they were out of sight she was going to call the wristlets power if she could. He didn't have to know that actually wielding the power herself was a rather new thing for her.

"I have no idea of what you've done in the past, I don't know if Mana remembers you, it's one of the things she won't tell me." She threw the knife into the opposite wall and folded her arms. "But one thing I have picked up is that you are a threat to us. You harm us, I don't care if the others are there to protect you, I will bring you down."

"Cute." He relaxed slightly. His grin nearly broke his face in half. "Mana's soul was split into two as well. Only it was the Dark part that got reincarnated." Her smile faded and he felt the upper hand got to him. "So what did happen to Mister Yagami?" He didn't allow her to answer. "I bet your history is  _filled_  with little incidents, long before getting involved with the Wristlet."

While there had been several times were Darcy had done something stupid, she had never crossed any moral lines, she hadn't killed anyone if that's what he was going on about.

"Half a soul, walking around with no balance to keep them in line. Moto was bullied for years and too soft to do anything about it. So what's a dark half going to do without a conscious light half to stop it?" Darcy's face became expressionless. "I'm guessing something along the lines of The Pharaoh's early days of setting people on fire and cursing anything that crossed him."

"Take me lightly if you will, it would be much more satisfying if you don't see me coming." Darcy retorted. She hated how this was ending, how she had lost this verbal dispute. There was no losing, ever.

"Ta, you should really let Mana fix you, do you good!" He suggested mockingly. She was steaming. She crossed the room and pulled the knife out of the wall.

"You forgot your knife." She threw it hard, almost too hard as it hit the door frame. He looked at it for a moment, as if it would grow teeth and bite him.

"Keep it." He finally said, leaving the room. Feeling a little better that she regained control, but somewhat confused at him not taking the knife back. Why leave her with a weapon, unless he had done something to it? She pulled it back out, it was a normal blade, normal handle. There was a faint smell of polish lingering.

\Do not do that again please Darcy.\ Mana's voice was both a relief as well as a source of anger.

/Where have you been?!/ Darcy did not mean to sound so desperate, but that is what it came out as, desperate. /You haven't acted this way since the fainting incidents. /

\I've been thinking.\ She said, she seemed relucent to go on. \I don't know what to do anymore.\

/Good thing you have me!/ Darcy smiled, Mana stayed quiet. It was rare that the spirit got like this. Though she found perky, question what everything is Mana annoying at times, she would trade her right arm for her to go back to acting like that. /This has to do with the Pharaoh?/

\Yes.\ She answered. \Telling him of his life. It is a good idea? The seal…\

/The seal is if his memories return to him, not if someone tells him second hand./ Darcy said, reciting the very words Mana used over and over to be prepared to meeting her Prince. /What you are doing is a good idea, and you said he should know everything, so he can be the person he was before. / There was a thought that Mana could have been different without her memories. Would she still be excited, bouncy thing she is with them?

/Thank you. / She could feel the Spirit's mood lift.

\There isn't a need. Let's learn magic things to get your mind of that.\ She pocketed the knife and made her way downstairs with everyone else.

**Wands**

**Earlier**

The foreign students left in a hurry. The moment they heard the last thunder up the ancient stairs and the muffled screams of Mrs. Black had silenced they moved close to each other to talk about their own findings.

"Well, that was odd." Hermione started. "What was Seto talking about?"

How it had gotten quiet, when Kaiba spoke like he was a part of a conversation no one else could hear.

"No idea, but did you feel it get cold? Like a bunch of ghosts were dancing around in here." Ron said, he was still shivering.

"Seto sounded like he was talking about a fight. But no one was fighting." Ginny said.

"Do you think they're talking to each other telepathically?" Ron mentioned. He could see Hermione about to explain how that was not possible in some way. "What, it is a good idea."

"They would have to be very high-level wizards to accomplish that." She said, "Extremely high, plus they wouldn't be able to accomplish it themselves, not without a wand."

"Maybe it was the gold things they had," Ginny said, the blank looks she got from the group made her sigh. "Are you serious, no one else noticed?"

"Oh, we actually know this one," Fred grinned. "School is coming in handy."

"You don't need a wand for magic, but a channeler for some kind." George started, then Fred took over.

"Like how muggles always had us with staffs and crystal balls, long time ago-"

"There were actually witch and wizards that used them instead of wands."

"And before the general distribution of wands wizards had to make their own thing to channel magic-"

"Or boom!" They high-fived, grinning that they had managed to know more than Hermione, she rolled her eyes at their behaviour.

"And they look Egyptian; they have one of the oldest magical communities, so having something over then wands might have been a given."

"Yeah, Bill kept on saying that, so old and magic and advance," Ron mentioned.

"But telepathy?" Hermione asked again.

"No, everyone shut up about telepathy." Harry butted in. "We were going to talk about Malik, remember?"

"Guy's creepy." Ron nodded. "But he's not screaming serial killer."

"You could push him over." Fred or George agreed. "Little tosser doesn't look like he could hurt a fly."

"Don't let appearances fool you, 6 people are dead or drooling vegetables," Ginny said hotly. "And the order felt the need to keep him asleep, we should not take him lightly."

"But he took out six death eaters, that's better them some Aurors track records," Fred said.

"So is it really a bad thing?" George finished.

"He's 16! Just a little older than us!" Hermione exclaimed. "Doesn't it scare you?"

"The rest of the new people could be capable of the same, they managed to flee death eaters then avoid the Order for more than a day"

"If Malik Didn't kill Death Eaters they would have been leaving in the cauldron for a while, or at least before they moved again." Ginny Shrugged. "Isn't it odd that they all were able to meet up after separate attacks?"

"They had cell phones," Hermione informed, knowing that the Weasley's would have no idea of the electronic devices that muggles have added. "Communication devices."

"The girl, Darcy I think, mentioned her phone not covering the area," Harry Said. "The telepathy theory might actually be a good bet."

"What are those phones supposed to do? Are they like the ones connect to the wall?" Ron asked, remembering the phone call he tried to make a few years ago to Harry. Harry Visibly cringed at the memory.

Hermione gave them a quick explanation, then berated Ron from not taking muggle studies for what felt like the hundredth time. Harry would have liked to have gone on, however Mr's Weasley emerged from the kitchen and set eyes on the group and started to yell.

"You're still awake? Harry, you have a court case in a few hours! Bed now! All of you! Harry you're supposed to give them a good impression you can't do that while you're nodding off while they try getting you expelled from school!" Her tone immediately changed while addressing her daughter. "Ginny be a dear and tell Odion that Dinner for his brother is finished."

The twins apparpriated out, fleeing quickly. Ron was stuck helping Hermione with her mountain of books. Being pushed up stairs by Mrs. Weasley when he tried staying he pasted the foreign students coming back down, they were speaking in a mix of Ancient Egyptian as he found out the language to be and Japanese. How they could keep up with what was being said was a mystery to him.

He didn't expect to bump into someone else, nearly being knocked over he recognized it as Darcy.

"Sorry." He said. "Thought you were already downstairs."

"It's okay, oh shit you have that court thing today!" She exclaimed, snapping her fingers in recognition.

"Yeah," he mumbled. He had not pictured her to be so friendly. She had been with Malik when he apparently killed the death eaters if she was phased at it she wasn't showing it.

"Good luck, you're going to need a hell of a lot of coffee in the morning." She grinned. He didn't know what it was, but he was unsettled.

He did not shake the feeling until long after he was in bed and half asleep. Bakura had been nice, but he had threated the order with knives. Yugi was friendly but he heard how intense the order meeting was between them all. Seto seemed cold. That was all he got from him, he might have been okay with Malik's actions, but that was a stretch coming from the 'Yagami' comment.

There was a possibility that for their safety they would be attending Hogwarts thing year but would Dumbledore really allow them to stay? The only thing he was certain was that they were dangerous, all of them.

Accepting Dumbledore's judgement was becoming difficult now a day. Perhaps he was getting old.

 


	9. One Patronus

**Ring**

There had been no sleeping for the foreigners, even if they wanted to, there were too many things to discuss. They bounced ideas on what they were doing, from running away again, to joining up with the order. They eventually decided no decisions would be made until they found out what was to happen after they had gone home to collect their things again.

Yugi was looking forward to seeing his friends again, he was bouncing, and Bakura was in glee watching Kaiba lose his patience.

None of the spirits had made an appearance since they all ate after their meeting. Ryou had been surprised at how quiet it had become. The threat of spirits tearing each other and everything around them apart had stayed dormant.

Bakura had yet to catch Malik alone to probe for information. The Ishtar’s were avoiding the topic, Kaiba couldn't care less and typed away on his computer (which somehow had not run out of battery yet), and the Pharaoh and Magician were talking again. Bakura wasn't eavesdropping this time and lingered in the ring hidden from the others eyes.

The sun had started to rise when activity with the British people started again as they woke up. Molly predictably had already awoken and had the kitchen alive with the smell of breakfast. Harry and Arthur had left a little later for his Hearing.

From coaxing from her brothers Ishizu and Odion had gone to bed since they have not slept since this whole ordeal had started. Ishizu hid it well but was fighting exhaustion. Odion was faring a little better since he had managed to sleep a little the night before. Trusting the others to look after their brother they went upstairs to sleep.

So when the Order members came to inform them of their situation, they did not have anyone close to being considered an adult and were taken lightly. They were not told what was happening outside of what they knew. No updates on the Leaky Cauldron attack, the Death Eater massacre or the Museum raid. It was irritating, they were being treated the exact same as the British students. If it was going to be like this for the rest of the stay, which they still had no idea how long that would be someone was going to put their foot down.

Bakura had first predicted it would be Kaiba to throw a tantrum, his mind was changed with the new addition of Darcy. The British Students had her pegged as bonkers her, the Order members were informed of another spirit a little earlier.

"My classes for the day are already finished." Darcy kept checking her watch for the time again. Lupin had arrived and they all crowded the dining room. "I hope you were able to contact my mother before she has a fit."

The only available members that were not ministry or a teacher were Lupin, Bill, Basil, and Sirius, with Sirius unable to actually leave the house and Basil not a full member of the order, Lupin and Bill had gone across the globe several times to inform family of the where-a-bouts of the Foreign Students.

"She has been alerted, as have your school of your absence." Lupin recited, he had already looked exhausted and the lack of sleep made him look like he had died several times on the way back. "Your story is that you were caught up in the explosion and had minor injuries, you were witness to a potential terrorist attack and in custody for questioning so when you get home will vary."

"Wait, you officially put me down as a witness?" Darcy said flatly. "Can't your Death Eaters look me up in the police and hospital records?"

He scoffed, pouring some tea for himself. "Death Eaters could not and would not use muggle means to track people down. Not that it would cross their mind that it was a valid idea."

"But they let new Death Eaters in, so maybe they would be more inclined to impress their new boss and actually be competent and use the means they have to get information." She scowled. "So you just painted a crosshair on my back, which I would have been fine if you didn't put my REAL name into the records!"

"They would have found out your involvement from the Death Eaters that saw you with Malik. Everyone that had been at the cauldron as well." Lupin said.

"Fake names! They didn't know  _my_  identity, I'm a nobody in this!" She exclaimed as she crossed her arms. "I'm pretty sure Malik got rid of any Death Eaters that saw our faces, accident or otherwise."

That got Bakura's interest, maybe Malik had a legitimate reason if he was provoked. But why didn't he mention that at all in his defence? While an argument broke out between Darcy and the wizards, with Yugi and Kaiba butting in with their own families, he was able to drag Malik into the corridor. Malik had known this talk was coming, but by no means happy about it.

They were, in a very broad sense friends. At least he was more sure about Malik then the  _Pharaoh_  of all people. He wanted answers, he felt he deserved them since they had swapped emails.

" _Okay, we danced around this enough,"_  Bakura growled.  _"Malik, what happened in the shop?"_

" _As everyone has heard already,"_  Malik began, defensive. His arms were crossed and he looked past the thief.  _"I murdered three people, and sent three to the shadow realm, what else do you want to know?"_

" _Details, like why."_  Bakura said, he took a moment to check if anyone was coming through the hallway if there was something that Malik did not want to share. From the British side, they would have no idea what they were saying unless they did another pesky language spell. The ones he knew that spoke Japanese were otherwise occupied. _"Conceal your identities? Because you were not covering your tracks by leaving bodies."_ Malik was not the greatest at subtly, the Rare Hunters were exhibit A to that.  _"If it's going to be a threat to all of us, I need to know now."_

" _Right, since I'm the biggest threat to this group! It's as if you wouldn't kill us all in our sleep if it didn't suit your needs!"_  Malik snapped at him, Bakura reeled back in response.

Ryou, who had been listening intently, felt something come from his other half. It took a moment to figure out what is, since he had never thought it would come from the ancient thief's side. Hurt? Had Malik's accusation offended him? He would say that they as a whole were friends with Malik, maybe the thief wasn't going along with it from any gain.

" _And don't for a moment think otherwise."_  Bakura narrowed his eyes and ignored Ryou's invisible stare. He definitely meant it, no soft-hearted host would stop him.  _"But you think I'm going to wait for you to wake up and start stabbing people? That's my thing."_

 _/Yami, as a tip, I don't think you should change the topic. /_  Ryou said cautiously.

 _\What are you talking about we haven't changed topic.\_  He answered. Ryou felt his emotion leak through the link. Bakura had no idea how to talk in this situation, okay, maybe on the murder…

_/Just, something is bugging Malik, so keep it concentrated on him, try not to mention yourself. /_

" _Are you talking to Ryou as well?"_  Malik asked hotly. The anger in his voice was alarming.

 _[Sorry about that.]_  Ryou appeared, looking as apologetic as he felt.  _[He's not good with this, he's concerned about you and doesn't know how to show it.]_

 _Curse the broadcast link!_  A brief moment of anger was replaced with relief when Bakura remembered that Mutou did not understand Japanese anymore. Ishizu was asleep, but probably already knew what they were talking about, Darcy barely knew the language and Kaiba couldn't hear them. Perfect.

" _Hey-!"_  Ryou did not know if his other halves exclamation was from his truthful comment on the fact that Ryou had distracted him enough to take back possession of his body.

" _Well, that's a first."_  Malik raised an eyebrow, for a moment forgetting the conversation at hand. Ryou gave a weak smile.

_\Damn it, Ryou! The one time to grow a backbone-\_

_/Let me talk instead./_ He said, cutting the thief off before he tried to force his way back out, this was one of the only times he had been able to overthrow the Spirits hold from willpower alone, he had to back it up with diplomacy to change his mind. _/I'm better at talking and you know it./_

 _\\... Fine.\_  He was surprised at how quick he accepted this and became silent.

" _Sorry."_  Ryou apologized. Sensing Malik was about to retreat behind his shield again he spoke.  _"But we are all worried, and concerned. You don't have to tell us what happened, exactly, but we want to know if anything happened to you."_

" _I got too angry."_  Malik finally said, almost monotone in his delivery. _"He broke through."_ Bakura, and pretty much everyone else that knew had been right in assuming that Malik had not been in control. There was no question to who 'he' was. Malik's expression darkened. _"Truthfully, he broke through after the Museum was set on fire. I was ignoring him until I was at the shop."_

" _What happened?"_ Ryou asked, hoping he would go into detail now he had gotten him to talk, so clamming up now would take a considerable effort.

" _I was hiding in the shadows, raided the place for artefacts and overheard the same people that attacked us talking about their next move."_  He turned his head away, so Ryou could not see his expression, but his tone told him what he felt.  _"They spoke of murdering my family like it would be an exciting game; who they would kill first, how they would torture for information, which would be better use alive..."_  Malik sighed. _"You can see where I snapped."_

" _Everyone has a breaking point, but Marik-"_  He was caught off guard when Malik flinched at the name.  _"-Is another thing, do you remember anything as he was set loose?"_

" _That's the thing, I do."_  Malik answered.  _"There was no memory blanks, no possession or take over."_ He looked to his clenched fist, like it was still blood soaked. _"I did it all."_

It was Ryou's turn not to know what to say. Malik was visibly shaking, and tried getting a grip on himself, he backed into a wall and leaned on it to compose himself. Ryou copied his movement so the both facing the opposite wall.

 _\That is why he did not want to talk.\_ Bakura murmured, Ryou imagined him shaking his head. _\This is not what I imagined.\_

" _It's like back in battleCity. He was just like a whisper, edging me one way, telling me what to do so it felt like I didn't know which thought was mine or his."_  Ryou touched his shoulder, Malik tensed for a moment, before relaxing. _"Now he never stops, just talking and talking and won't_ ** _shut up_**."

Ryou held his breath as if Marik could take over and slit his throat in a second. Malik didn't do anything, deep in thought already.

" _I haven't heard him since I woke up, which is a good thing."_ Malik eventually said. _"I promise you'll both be the first one to know if he starts again, happy?"_

" _Malik. You know we are here for you, right?"_ Ryou asked, _"All of us, we need to rely on each other to see the end of this unscratched, and you know, trust each other._ "

Bakura knew this was directed at him more than Malik. He scowled loudly, hoping it would cross through the link without putting effort into it.

Malik smirked, sensing the spirit. _"Yeah. Thanks Ryou. You too, thief, points for trying."_ He grinned.  _"We should go back before they make a big deal of us missing."_

" _Right behind you."_ Ryou said, he looked to be moving, but once Malik turned the corner Ryou stopped./

 _\What is wrong?\_ The thief asked.

 _/ He said 'never stops', present tense. He's lying to us. /_  The thief predictably, was not happy about this.

 _\Then why did you let him go?! Call him out for it!\_  He exclaimed.

 _/That's not going to work./_  Ryou leaned on the wall again. _/What can we do? How are we going to help him with something in his own head? We can see sealing him in Malik's head didn't work./_

\ _So you want to instead keep an eye on him instead? \_  Bakura asked, a hint of mocking in his tone. _\Marik could pop up at any moment and you want to wait for that, Host? \_

 _/Marik isn't a spirit, he's a personality disorder.\_ Ryou sighed outwardly. _\Without Shadow magic, and without Malik needing to depend on him he's just a voice in his head. And how loud he is depends on us. /_

Bakura for lack of better term was impressed at the thought his host had put into this.

 _/I wasn't kidding when I said we would be there for him. /_ He continued. _/We need to make sure he never has to listen to Marik again, over time he'll block him off completely, hopefully, Malik's case is different than most/_

_\When did you become an expert in… whatever you're talking about.\_

Ryou grinned. _/You know How the school stuck me in counselling for three months?/_

_\Vaguely.\_

_/Lucky./_ Ryou said dryly. _/I spent most of the time reading AND after battleCity I read up on Malik's case./_  He paused, he was taking large steps, hoping that he could keep the spirit in a good enough mood. _/We should get the others in this as well./_

 _\The others know enough to keep an eye on him, they do not need too many details.\_ Bakura said. _\Pharaoh and the Priest would know that Marik is a threat, but wouldn't screw with Malik because of that. I cannot say the same about the Order.\_

 _/You left out the girls./_ Ryou pointed out.

 _\On purpose. Saying the host is not friendly as an understatement.\_ He pouted like a child. _\Plus, she has, Freddy.\_

Ryou was going to have to find out where he was hiding these knives, and where he was getting them from.

 _/And Mana?/_  The thief didn't speak. _/One day you'll have to tell me what happened between you two./_

 _\No I don't.\_  the thief became quiet again, Ryou let it rest, maybe his prodding will eventually wear the spirit down.

"Having a nap, Ryou?" He jumped at the voice. Tonk rounded the corner, her hair purple this time. "Your father is informed, He knows you are in Britain, any other details like the spirit were opted out, he thinks you are on a paid vacation with Mr Kaiba."

"Thanks."

"We're getting ready to transport you back to Japan to gather your things before we take you to another safe house." She smiled kindly. Tonk's didn't fit with the other members, she was young and eccentric. Maybe that was why she was getting on so well with the younger crowd, she was caught between them.

"Bakura, I got my bike back!" Malik turned the corner with the biggest smile on his face. Ryou felt Bakura smiling himself through the link. The lengths Bakura went to for Malik were longer than any of his other plans.

**Puzzle**

Finally, they were going home. They still did not have their things from the Cauldron yet, the entire place was on lockdown by the ministry so they could not be retrieved without the wizard thief being arrested. Having a slightly infamous thief be in charge of sneaking around might not have been a good idea.

The sudden appearance of Mad-Eye did not bode well for any of them, after taking Tonks and Bill away for a moment they returned grim-faced.

"The ministry know about the Foreigners." He said, and an instant uproar from the foreign students.

"How?!" Yami had instantly taken over. Yugi was alright with it, however, wished he was a little more kind in asking them instead of his demanding tone.

"The multiple witnesses at the pub, Death Eaters in the Ministry there is a number of possibilities you were not exactly subtle." He continued, ignoring Yami's tone. "They want to talk to you, get official reports. They know exactly who they are looking for." He paused and looked weary. "The Japanese Magical Embassy is getting involved. First the Americans, now this."

"You're handing us over." Bakura growled, less of a question and more of an accusation, They were all standing, things were boiling over quickly. [I'll distract with a summon.] He said, a hand sliding into his pocket. Darcy gave a jerk of her head in agreement. Good to know someone was in on that plan.

[It's not coming to that.] Yami said firmly to the group when he saw Kaiba twitch for his gun. That was potentially a deadly ending. "What are you planning with us now?" He said aloud.

"The best plan at the moment is going along with the Ministry's inquiries." Mad-Eye said, not showing how surprised he was at the lack of the fight he received. "You are going to be with Basil, who should be here at any minute. The story is that after the 'Rare Hunter' attack, she grouped you together because she found you were the targets and took you to a safe house. She's only just finding it safe to transport you to the Ministry."

Yami didn't relax until he saw the rest of the group take their hands of their weapon of choice. Thankfully Bakura wasn't jumping right into this. He crossed him arms and continued to stand, Bakura leant against the wall close to the fireplace. Malik had the door covered. They didn't have to commune to work together, and it worked to their advantage if anything really did go wrong.

"Is she alright for the potential scrape coating?" Kaiba said dryly, sitting down again. "You're ministry is not exactly friendly."

"We have this figured out." Bill said. "Basil nearly became head of her division, she's pretty respected, but her leaving after the war caused a bit of mistrust. But now in the Ministry's time of need making their job easier by finding you would put her in the good books, and be in a good position for us."

"So you're both establishing a new plant, as well as dealing with the problem at hand." Kaiba finished, nodding.

"Exactly. Basil remains neutral to the Dumbledore and Fudge debate, all the while giving evidence that they were really Death Eaters instead of Rare Hunters like they think." Tonks said, she pointed to Malik and Darcy. "Malik and Darcy could give faces, the wands they took are the best ID you can imagine, handing them over would be vital."

"But the owners are now  _dead._ " Darcy reminded. "If we rock up with their wands we might as well tell the Death Eaters who was responsible for the attack on them." She was the one that was pacing the room now. "We also can be pinned for being at the Cauldron, just a few minutes away from the shop itself. What stops the Death Eaters dumping the bodies somewhere they can be found so their deaths can be blamed on us?

Having Kaiba with them was a game breaker, without him Yami was sure they would have been trapped without knowing what was going on and had to rely on the thief instead. Kaiba was the critical thinker. Darcy was coming in a close second, keeping up with his train of thought like a duellist would. He remained mostly quiet throughout the conversation, making his own conclusions.

"The greatest advantage we have is your age." Tonks mentioned. "They are not going to believe you are murderers or capable of anything past a student's magic." She smiled. "You'll be painted as innocent bystanders with an incredible story to tell, the Prophet will eat it up."

Yami could not deny that they could look innocent if they wanted to, Yugi and Ryou could pull it off just by giving them  _the eyes_. He was not sure about Darcy, but Malik mentioned in passing her over the top acting. Mana might pull it off better.

"What of our involvement with Pegasus?" Yami asked before he thought of her too much. "Bakura, Kaiba and I were transported here by him, we cannot leave him out."

"Let's just involve him anyway, that seems to be his plan." Bakura said. "He's coming here; I doubt it's to start another fraction of his company."

"Knowing him, he already had everything planned so when we did get here we wouldn't be hassled for crossing borders." Yami said. "Now the Ishtar's and Darcy however, are a different story, how are you dealing with that?"

"There in an international Magical community act that accepts refugees running from the Dark Lord, that was established way back in the war. And they can't get rid of it so easily because all of the countries have to be asked to abolish it." Mad Eye's face twisted, it took a moment for Yugi to realize that he was smiling, similar to knowing an inside joke. "It covered a few magical communities, Japan is on the list, Australia is a given, seeing as many people ran there to start anew and to hide last time."

"And a loophole Arthur found, that those that feel in danger of the Dark Lord may flee the country to one stated to be in the agreement. It did not specify that it was Britain they were fleeing, so someone from Australia or Japan can flee their country to Britain to escape."

[Mr Weasley?] Yugi asked out loud. The man was ministry as well, but didn't think this type of thinking was his department.

[Oh, we know why he's in the Order now.] Bakura answered. [Useful little skill like that.]

"You're using the ministry's own laws against them that is brilliant!" Darcy grinned, she had taken to leaning on the chair Kaiba was sitting in. Bakura shot them a glare that went unnoticed by most, but not Yami.

The fireplace flared, Basil stepped out much more gracefully than when they first arrived.

"Sorry I'm late, I was making my house look like it was housing five teenagers, in case they want to check my story out a hundred times." She said, she had changed from her casual black clothes to a dark blue robe. Yugi didn't think it suited her. She didn't seem to belong to this world anymore than they did.

"So we don't even get to go home?" Darcy asked, fanning her skirt down for the hundredth time that morning. At least Ryou and Yugi would change into their bags with their uniform that Bakura pulled from the shadow realm. "A change of clothes would have been nice."

"Sorry, not today." Basil said sheepishly. "After this we will take you home." She made a glance at Mad-Eye, who chose not to say anything. Even if it sounded sincere, it seemed empty. Yami doubted they would be home anytime soon.

"Wait you said five teenagers, what of my siblings?" Malik asked sharply. Yami did not even pick that up. How could he have forgotten them?

"They are not even thought to be involved in this. The Death Eaters believe them to have fled and they cannot find again, so they will concentrate on you, Malik." Basil said. "You both stick with your story, you couldn't find your family and went after them, just go with what actually happened you two, opt out coming here and instead coming to my place instead."

"They would be safest doing this." D- Mana said, taking over. "That is your main concern, is it not?"

He nodded with his eyes closed. He directed his next comment to the Wizards. "Don't disturb their sleep, when they wake tell them of the changed plans."

[Wait… shit.] Darcy slapped her forehead. [Ishizu and Odion as adults would have the heat put on them.] She crossed her arms again and scowled. [I do not like how this is going.]

[Us either.] Ryou said. [They're taking us out of their hands and into their own, Bakura not now.] He added the last part when Bakura moved slightly, it seemed harmless enough but he was going for the powder on the mantel. The only escape was through the fireplace where they can be positive they could flee. They had no idea of their location, or what was outside the front door.

[And I walked into that- sorry.] Malik sighed. Feeling it was he that got them into this situation. He had given the okay to keep his family out of this after all.

[They still don't have us in their immediate control, we can still turn the tables.] Darcy said. [We can adapt.]

"Let us make some calls." Yami said, after the brief mental talk. "To inform our friends and family things are not going to plan."

They were given a few minutes and only a few minutes to make their calls with barely anytime to talk amongst themselves about a new plan.

"Basil the uniform for your old department changed again." Mad-Eye said of the side.

"Again? Come on!" She said expressively. "Why do they have to keep changing things that don't have to?"

Being in this woman's hands may have seemed like a bad idea. She was abrasive and was not aware of her surroundings. Yami and Seto shared a look, wondering how this adventure was going to end.

"Okay, first we got to travel to my backup fireplace, then use my house fireplace so they cannot find the Headquarters." She grinned. "All tracks covered."

**LATER (All Perspective)**

Basil had failed to mention that the fireplace was in the middle of a forest, in a cave that was inhabited by a colony of large spiders. They had to track through half a mile of forest before they came to her house, an isolated double story building in the middle of a field. It looked to be something out of a postcard with cheerful 'Come visit the countryside!' text and maybe a friendly old couple sitting on the front porch.

No one was in a good mood when they finally got to the Ministry of Magic. They had to go through the fireplaces, instead of the front entrance because of how many of them there were. Basil mentioned that Harry would be using the train and Bakura spent the rest of the time grumbling about it.

Still, they looked like worn out, confused teenagers. Maybe it was on purpose. Ryou and Yugi took over, their school uniforms ripped from the stick fight that felt so long ago, with their bandages any passer-by might want to hug them tight and tell them it was going to be okay.

Darcy switched with Mana, who in the new environment pulled the bewildered look off quite well. That and Darcy had had enough of her clothes and let Mana have control. Kaiba looked like he would bite someone's head off if they crossed him, and Malik with his large bags under his eyes gave the impression of a few dozen sleepless nights.

They in the room filled with fireplaces and were out in the open, It made them uncomfortable, since half of them were sensing people arrive a second before they did and it turned their paranoia up. People were looking at them, with reactions ranging from confusion, realization and interest. Basil lead them to a counter, with a quick chat with the woman she had left to alert someone of their arrival. They stayed close together, however the spirits were mapping the place out, passing through walls and listing what was inside.

Basil quickly turned around to them, alarmed.

"No, tell them to stop." She said in a hushed whisper.

"Wait-" Kaiba trailed off, looking surprised for once.

"You can see them?" Yugi said, wide-eyed. The rest were just as confused. There was never a break in the rule, you needed an item, or something close to it as it was to see the spirits or tap into the link. Basil had no such item that would come close to it.

[Oh gods can she hear us?] Mana paled considerably. The woman didn't blink, or acknowledge anything was said.

[Wait, maybe she can't hear what we're saying] Yugi said. Still no reaction from her. Maybe they were not as screwed as they believed.

[So you can hear us as well?] Darcy asked. Basil nodded.

"Comes with the territory." She said dryly.

[Then you know all our plans.] Yami said, Yugi recognized the hostility in his voice. No one would take kindly if the woman was suddenly soulless. If Basil felt threatened by them she was not showing it, she turned to the ancient Pharaoh.

"Hey I can only hear you guys as spirits; if you can communicate with each other I'm not hearing it." She informed. "I know you are scared that I will tell of this communication line, but why? You cannot be stopped without separating the vessel, and that is always a bad idea."

[Bakura says she could be lying.] Ryou said, count on the thief to figure a way to communicate. Bakura as a spirit stood across from the group, with no need to open his mouth. [About hearing us communicate this is not good.]

[Darcy adds that it can be both about knowing we can commune as a group, or she can't hear us.] Mana said. [Either way, we need to rethink this.]

"Hearing spirits, sensing magic it's my thing." Basil continued. "However my old department has the tools to see and track you, get back in your vessels before someone else sees you, _now._ " She sounded urgent and it felt like an order. The spirits blinked out of existence. Yugi felt Yami's presence back in the puzzle. Yami was unsettled, and Yugi knew the others were as well.

[Well shit.] Malik said, finally speaking up. [This really puts our planning at a standstill.]

[Bakura wants to know what we plan to do with her.] Ryou said, scratching the back of his neck.

[Yami says not kill her.] Yugi said, looking uncomfortable. Yami did not want to place Yugi in this position, but they had no choice in their position. Anyone could see them, Basil could hear them, having that compromised was a blow to their planning. Without any planning how were they getting out of this?

Basil excused herself, letting them sit by the fountains. They were rather beautiful, white stone statues of people and some creatures, half they didn't recognize.

"What's the plan, really, I'm out of ideas." Darcy asked, a note of panic in her voice. It was gone by the time she spoke again. "The link was our best tool."

"Go with the plan, then strangle Pegasus later." Kaiba said, "We need to get somewhere safe and start again. If the worst happens and we get split up we should set somewhere for us to meet again."

"Literally Big Ben is the only thing I can think of in London." Yugi said.

"Big Ben, as soon as possible?" Malik confirmed. "Gotcha, look for the big clock, I don't even think we'll need a map." His tone stayed cheery. "Though my siblings will have to guess what we are doing."

Yami was thinking that forgetting the Ishtar's was a serious flaw in his train of thought. That was the third time in as many days he had forgotten about them and felt terrible about it, did it speak of his rule? That he simply forgot people he considered important?

"They make excellent hostages against us." Darcy noted, missing the look of resentment from Malik. Yami could figure out why, speaking of his family like they weren't more than hostages would upset him as well.

"They would particularly want Ishtar under control." Kaiba continued. "They may be under the assumption that you are the leader of this little group, and want to make sure you're contained."

"You're having a god damn ball the both of you." Bakura spat, taking over. No one should have been surprised at him finally coming out to say something.

"I was taught corporeal business to deal with wars Kaiba corporation funded. This is no different." Kaiba said coolly, not even flinching. "And no, I am not enjoying myself one bit."

"I was going to set to world on fire by taking over one criminal organization at the time." Darcy shrugged, her head indicated to her arm with the Wristlet. "I didn't get far."

"This is exactly how you worked Back in Egypt." Bakura continued, like he didn't hear them. "The ever so great Pharaoh silent as his High Priest did all the talking, the Court Magician the greatest Magical Warrior of the generation where they turned when it couldn't be solved with 'diplomacy'. Planning on how to deal with Civil wars, invasions…" He turned to Darcy, who tensed. "Mahad would be  _proud_ , Mana."

One could have heard a pin drop at how quiet it got. Darcy's face darkened, but her eyes turned blue, showing that it was not her. Yami and Yugi quickly changed to try and get things back under control.

"Don't you  ** _dare_** _._ " Mana had done a complete 180. For the first time since they had met, she seemed threatening…  _Dangerous_. " **Talk about Mahad you** ** _filthy_** **-** "

He had gone to hold her arm, to hold her back. But the name was tugging at his mind.

" **Mahad?"**  Yami repeated, feeling dizzy, he had to hold his head but he might as well have punched himself in the face at how well it balanced himself. Instead it was Kaiba that had to hold him up, seeing the smaller Pharaoh stumble.

" **Hey Bakura this is not a good idea-"** Malik said cautiously, He did not know which side of the argument to take, but triggering the Pharaoh's memories to return was a big No-No.

" **You remembering him, Pharaoh?"**  He's face twisted into a grin. **"He was only your Bodyguard since childhood after all, no need to remember such an insignificant-"**

" **SHUT UP!"**  Mana screamed, cutting him off. She took a step forward and flexed her Wristlet arm. He only looked bemused.  **"Back off now, and not another word. That is your only warning."**

"Hey." Kaiba said, making Yami sit on the fountain as he held his head, the headache was getting worst. Kaiba was ignored.

" **What are you going to do about it?"**  Bakura mocked,  **"You weren't that good at your own job, rather the only reason you were kept around after he died was the soft spot the Pharaoh had for you."**

" **Bakura, shut up."** Yami growled from the Fountain, Yugi appeared next to him, worried about his current state.

[No no guys not here.] Yugi cringed, looking around them to see if he could be spotted. This was turning into a big scene now with the gibberish screaming. But no one seemed to be paying attention to them, in fact, there seemed to be fewer people than there was before.

" **Head hurting? Painful isn't it?"** Bakura prodded, he turned back to Mana who was close to snarling at him. Malik had taken the role of holding the girl back. **"I was wondering why you didn't mention him earlier, but you were trying to shield him from that because his memory is stronger than everything else. He's strong enough to crack the seal."**

Mana was growling in Egyptian, her language more colourful than Darcy's has ever been. The girl was standing next to Malik and Darcy, trying to talk some sense into The Magician.

" **Everyone calm down."**  Malik tried again, struggling to hold the Magician back. She was strong, but not concentrating on him.

[Bakura, please-] Ryou pleaded, but he was silenced. Yugi knew he had been locked into his soul room by the older Spirit.

" **Hey."**  Kaiba said again, with more force. The language change threw everyone off. Having their attention now he spoke in English. "Did anyone else feel that?"

There was a chill, and it was getting much,  _much_  colder. It had gotten darker without them realizing it.

[That is not us.] Mana said, Darcy had taken control in her moment of bewilderment.

"The fire places have gone out." Malik said, realizing why it had gotten so dark.

"Our escape route is gone." Darcy added, she tugged out of Malik's hold, he backed off. He held the handle of the rod under his hoodie.

The Fountain behind them was frosting over, in seconds it had become still ice. Kaiba tapped it, feeling that it was solid the whole way through.

There was faint screaming. Yami went for his cards.

"THE DEMENTORS HAVE GONE ROGUE!" They heard someone scream. What sounded like firecrackers going off, dozens of them as darkness flooded the room. They looked like something that belonged in Bakura's deck, they swooped into the large room like black shadows. The rest of the lights disappeared as they crossed them like a jinx, but they were coming directly for the item bearers.

Yami felt like he was going to be sick, the body function foreign to him. He barely heard Kaiba order everyone to run, leading them in a blind direction. Someone had grabbed his arm and lead him away.

"Ryou says they're soul suckers, anyone not in a body in their room now." Bakura barked. "Stay close, Pharaoh, Swords!"

" **R-right-"** The time of argument was over. He fumbled with the deck, he was seeing double and way having trouble standing. What a time to be attacked. **"I can't see-"**

"Mana switch again!" A screech over the line before an uneasy silence. "MANA!" Someone grabbed her hand and she continued to run. "Light light LIGHT" she said over and over. She was barely making sparks. She was not the Magician, she knew no magic. "Ugh- Give me light!"

[The Items can glow, activate that.] Malik said. That had to be easy, right? After a painful moment the Wristlet glowed like when she first received it, it was not much, she couldn't see past her fingertips but it was a start.

The Items glowed, making them realize that by running they had gotten separated. Darcy was with Malik, who was waving the Rod around as the eye on it shone. They somehow had gotten to the other side of the room and out of the Link's range, the glow of the Puzzle and Ring were dim, and suddenly vanished. They heard shots of Kaiba's handgun, they looked for the source and managed to pinpoint him from the spark it made. He was just as far in the opposite direction.

"Kaiba!" No, he was out of range as well. Malik cursed, he didn't carry a deck around as religiously as the others did.

**\Now, that would have come in handy, huh?\**

"Oh shut up." He groaned. Darcy again thought it was directed at her.

"I'm trying to think of something, the Link is dead and Mana isn't responding, her door's locked-"

They heard more screaming, much closer than before.

And then Hell broke loose.

** 000 **

_"No! Don't pharaoh! Don't play it!"_

_"We have to win Yugi! Out of my way-"_

"Mother, SISTER-"

" **Hide, my son! Oh gods RUN-"**

" _Yugi, No! What have I done-?"_

The memories were overwhelming and a jumble, dread filled him as he tried to shield from the creatures that blended so perfectly with the darkness. He faintly registered that Bakura was close. Because he heard a thump as he fell down. He couldn't keep himself up. Why was it so cold now?

" **Mahad! No, NO."**  Mana's voice came through the link.

" **Mana… it's all right-"**  his own voice answered, sounding like he was holding back his own emotions.

" **H-He's gone. He's supposed to be here, he's supposed to teach me-** ** _MAHAD!_** **"**  She wailed.

It was painful, so painful and it ate at him. No it wasn't the link. It was a memory, his own for Egypt. His head had already felt like it was splitting down the middle, his vision was going white again and he felt like he was going to black out.

[H-happy thought-] Ryou managed to say, sounding weak. [Harry said happy thoughts, it can become a spell-]

[Back in your room, landlord.] Bakura said, almost wheezing. He was just as trapped as Yami. He couldn't seem to summon any magic to aid them.

[Something good to hold onto…] Ryou faded out.

How could they think anything vaguely happy? There was nothing that he could think off, anything that he could use. He knew there was something, but whatever it had been felt like it was taken by the creatures. Yami thought hard on relieved he was when Yugi came back.

\I was so happy when I got you back.\ Yami said. \I was so scared that I had lost you, and you wouldn't forgive me.\

It felt like that day again, the absolute hell it was. But when it turned out all right, how everything turned out okay in the end stayed with him and replayed the horrible feeling he felt until the happiness began to eat at the misery.

Yami could feel his strength return. He managed to paw through his deck, using the minimum light from the Puzzle to see.

" _Swords of Revealing Light!"_

** 000 **

He could hear the voice getting louder and louder by the second. Laughing at him. The memory of his time underground twisted back up like an angry snake. Odion getting beaten to near death...

And something new, he walked to the glass case with the Rod and Necklace and picked it up, examining its power. He pointed at his father who after this, was still trying to tell him what to do. Gods he was so sick of it. He slid the handle off the rod to look at the gleaming knife that lay hidden under it.

His sister looked so young and terrified. She was next-

 **"NO!"** he screamed, he clutched his head and tried to flatten himself against the ground to get away for the creatures, the thoughts in his own head.

**\Yes. Let me out let me out let me out-\**

**"SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"**

"That barely helped." Bakura coughed, sitting up, the effects fading with the creatures contained.

"At least we can see them." The creatures floating in an eerie silence, they had no eyes, but they were watching their every move. There were maybe eight of them trapped in the circle. "Can you walk?" He asked, offering a hand.

Bakura shoved him away, he quickly thumbed through his deck and pulled two cards out. " _Lady in Wright_ ,  _Sagan._ " The skeleton woman and the small creature with three eyes appeared in a flash. "Find the others, protect them."

The monsters nodded and phased into the darkness. Bakura grunted and held his side. Yami steadied him, he didn't throw him off again, far too tired from the summoning to waste any energy he had left.

"The magicians are too high level to try without a risk of fainting. Nothing past four stars." He advised, Yami nodded and took out two cards himself.

" _King's Knight, Queen's Knight."_  They both appeared, glowing slightly. Light monsters might be good against these things. Jack's Knight appeared in a flash. They all looked at each other, confused at their summons.

[He's a level five.] Yugi said, pointing to Jack's Knight.

"I'm not feeling any strain." Yami admitted. "King's Knight effect must be coming into play, I was hoping it would." He turned back to the Knights. "Kings Knight, find and protect Kaiba, Jack's Knight, Darcy and Malik. Queen's Knight stay with us." He ordered, the two left and Queens Knight awaited new orders. "Cover us as we get somewhere safe, once we are try destroying them."

She nodded and turned to the trapped creatures. They moved fast, stumbling from the effects and into the darkness again.

[Stay in the puzzle Yugi, we have less than a minute before the card fades.] Yami said, and Yugi disappeared.

/The others-/

\I know, I set the strongest.\ He said, but could feel the anxiousness from his other half. \Going in blind is a terrible idea. I'm sorry, we can't help them right now.\

They couldn't go far as light was still a problem. Bakura grabbed Yami and pulled him into a fireplace. It was crowded, lucky the wood was under the fireplace itself with a large grate to stand- sit on.

[Okay this sucks bit this is the only way we're protected from most angles.] Bakura said, after elbowing the Pharaoh in the side. [Wait for those Damn Wizards to pop up.]

" _Big Shield Gardna,_ " Yami grunted, pulling the card out. It appeared already in position and blocked out the remainder of the light, it looked behind him to listen to his next order. "Protect us."

The summons were taking it out of him and he felt like he couldn't move. Bakura was in a similar state, panting from exhaustion.

** 000 **

"Mana! MANA ANSWER ME! I'm sorry I'M SORRY-"

" **Father is dead… I will be crowned in a few hours-"**

"Why can't you be this cheery all the time-?"

" **-He's supposed to teach me-!"**

" **Thank you for helping us, what is your name-?"**

The mix of voices was confusing, but it hurt all the same. She could hear soft crying though the link, Mana did not respond if she could hear her. Darcy had never felt so helpless as the memory bombarded her thoughts. They were _just memories_ , the terrible events she saw wasn't happening at that moment, but she wanted to throw up and lay on the floor and die. There was no one to talk down, no escape route only a screaming, out of control Malik and a glowing Wristlet. Why was she so damn  _useless?_

[Anyone, answer me!] She cried out though the link in a desperate attempt to make contact. They were all out of range and with their own attack to deal with.

[Mutou and Bakura are safe, they're hiding in one of the fire places.] A new voice filtered through the link. She felt so relieved. [I'll distract them, run to the others when you're clear.]

There was a loud inhuman shrieking that was cut off, similar to what she had heard earlier but thought it had been apart of the effects. It sent a shiver down her back, but the effects faded somewhat, not a lot but enough to notice.

[Kaiba?!] Darcy exclaimed. [You're in the link!]

[We can talk about this later, when we're not getting killed.] He quickly said, [They're coming your way, they seem to be focusing on Malik.] There was another shriek, she felt a leak of emotion and couldn't even pinpoint what it was. [Try and calm Ishtar down, or we will have a bigger problem than these duel monster rejects.]

[ _Bigger_  problem? How is that possible?!] She asked, she couldn't even imagine something worst then this.

[LATER.] He repeated loudly. [Happy thought! Ryou said happy thoughts!]

Hearing that from Kaiba might have made her laugh as he said it with his serious attitude, but left it for another time. Kaiba cut out off the link, and the Dementors seemed to disappear, no doubt following Kaiba like he planned. Malik was faring better, he no longer screamed and was panting heavily into the stone.

"Come on, Malik," He was so light that she pulled him to his feet with ease, but he wasn't staying up without help, he wasn't saying anything and his gaze was far. She tried finding a direction when she was confronted with a man in armour.

The familiar look of his face through her off, he drew his sword and disappeared again. Very close behind them they heard a shriek, turning, she could see the knight glow as it had cut a Dementor clean is half.

She took it as a sign to move, NOW. They couldn't go fast, and out of the corner of her eye kept tabs on the Knight as it killed more of the creatures. Another monster joined him, a little fur ball that leaped up and slashed at the things with its claws. She didn't need to question where they came from.

"Malik, come one speak to me, do something!" She signed desperately. /Mana! Can you hear me?/ Still no response from either of them, Mana would be okay, she was always Okay, she was more worried at the limp, unresponsive, Malik she was holding up.

To her horror, it grew cold again.

They were coming back. Kaiba had failed and they were coming back. The Knight was becoming overwhelmed, and with a scream it shattered and disappeared, the fur ball followed in his fate. Now they had no defence.

She didn't think, she dropped to the ground and threw the wristlet over her head. Pouring as much magic and willpower into it as possible. She pulled Malik close to her. He vision blurred, but a gold shield circled them. She could see them when they got close, jabbing at the shield with their bodies, their hideous mouths snapping at them, wanting to get closer.

She felt the pain of Mana hating her, the disapproving and disgusted faces of her friends lingered in her mind.

** 000 **

There were three or four of the cloaked creatures attacking Big Shield Gardna, he grunted as ever hit he took, he wasn't going down soon but the strain was taking its toll on Yami. The Monster they found could not protect them from the Dementors effects.

They heard a giggle, and three of the Dementors disappeared, shrieking until they vanished, another shriek and the fourth was gone.

Feeling nothing but bile in his throat, Yami dismissed the monster shielding them, thanking it as it disappeared. A clown stood before them, a Drama mask covered its face, its many bells on its costume jingled as it clapped in glee, then bowed at the two.

"Peten the Dark Clown." Yami said as he stood, nearly not believing the monster stood before him. It was not in either Bakura or his Decks. He came to the only logical conclusion. "What the hell is Kaiba doing?"

"Saving your asses." He said, appearing just behind the clown, and nearly out of sight in the shadows. "The other two have the majority of the things going back in their direction when they realized I was killing them too easily."

"You summoned a monster without an item." Bakura said flatly. "God damn it Priest-"

"Shut up and get your monster to concentrate on those guys," He snapped, irritated at how everyone was getting distracted. He pointed to the side. "The big glowing bubble over there might be a good start!"

** 000 **

The moment Harry felt the Dementors he called out his Patronus, no one was complaining of this, as the people around him scattered, trying to produce their own to protect themselves. Where the hell did Dumbledore go? Wouldn't he be helpful in this situation? He directed the stag to circle the room, keeping the others safe. He tried not to look at their faces as he concentrated. They looked so in awe of him. These people were condemning him, now look at them, safe because the lunatic wasn't messing around.

"They're concentrating on the fireplaces, no one can get in or out-" Someone said as the Dementors flew out, the lights returned and the Patronus became almost invisible, he did not dismiss it just yet.

"Dementors can't do that-" Someone said, Harry did not recognize them.

"They CAN, if it's a hoard they can douse the fires." Basil snapped, "Anyone with a Corporal Patronus get ready!" She turned to Mr Weasley who with a wave a Patronus weasel appeared. "The kids are in there, I only left for a few minutes-"

"Harry, _No!_ " Mr Weasley shouted, Harry had already left the lit area of the office and into the darkness towards the fireplaces. Harry heard them follow but he was so much faster than them. The stage was the only source of light through the darkened hallways. So much different than the first time he passed through that day.

** 000 **

"Peten, again!" Kaiba ordered, the clown took another Dementor out with a black ball of energy. There were few that had tried to attack them, seeing them so defenceless. Kaiba had used Dark Fusion on it, making it on par with Jack Knight. One to Three Peten was a life saver.

No matter how they pushed they could not get closer to the others. Bakura was almost unconscious from his monsters being taken out. Yami was keeping him up as he shouted orders to his Knights.

"Go, go GO!" A familiar voice yelled and a bright light filled a corner of the large room, it was almost too bright to look at. A Stage formed out of the light, faintly showing the master behind him. The Stage charged at the hoard of Dementors trying to get through the shield. Harry was running towards the group. They Dementors, knowing they were doomed turned to flee, trying to escape the Glowing animal. The slow ones did not get far, Peten the Dark Clown and the remainder of the knights killed them. They escaped through the ceiling, smashing the glass on their way out. It rained on them, they barely shielded themselves.

[Hide the monsters!] Yugi exclaimed. [If they find out what we can do we will be in even more trouble than we are now!]

There was a lot of dust piles when the lights were returned, Harry no doubt saw the monsters as the disappeared, his eyes wide as he came closer to them. The strange shield Darcy had put up faded as she let her arm down, looking like she was going to drop dead at any second.

People flooded into the room and were witness to Harry standing close to the students, half collapsed in exhaustion and the others were barely standing. The room littered with dust piles that were once Dementors.

No one else saw the monsters that had destroyed two-thirds of them.

Only Harry with his proud Patronus standing by his side.

 

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fic migrating from FF.net, and from two and a half years ago. I really wanted to pick this fic up again so I’m tweaking it slightly for resubmitting it. I'm actually pretty excited. Or nervous. Or both I'm not sure.
> 
> Tristan and Tea are Honda and Anzu because they are Native Japanese. Serenity and Joey are half American Japanese, while Duke is American.


End file.
